Agon, Again

I went to see the NYC Ballet in another performance of their Stravinsky/Balanchine repertoire, and my third Agon in the last few years.    In the meantime, I have also just seen an official release of Agon on DVD in performances recorded by the CBC in Montreal around 1960.  (It is surprising that that the current CBC didn't throw away these recordings, given their current urge to obliterate any trace of "elite" culture.)  These performances were recorded when the ballet was only about three years old, with many of the original principals performing (Arthur Mitchell!)   Seeing dance in two dimensions doesn't really work for me (not to mention music in two dimensions..)   But it does help you remember what you have seen in performance.

I have also recently been reading Charles Joseph's excellent book on Stravinsky and Balanchine.   He gives very detailed readings of both the genesis and construction of the ballets.  The amount of very sophisticated musical and choreographic ideas that went in to these ballets is truly remarkable.  In Agon, Stravinsky was working with rhythms from 17th century French dance manuals, and somehow integrating these with his new interest in serial techniques.  And Balanchine, with his incredibly sophisticated knowledge of music (he was able to analyze what Stravinsky was doing) created an equally complex structure and vocabulary of gestures which somehow illuminated the music.

What strikes me lately is what a rare and esoteric thing these ballets are, and how lucky we are to be able to see and hear them.   In the dance world, most people prefer either traditional ballet or else modern dance, and the small subset of people who like modern ballet is even smaller when you perform it with Stravinsky's serial music.  Yet the house was completely full. (Agon has been very popular with audiences from day one; "space-age ballet".)

I saw/heard Apollo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Momentum Pro Gesualdo, Duo Concertante, and Agon, all of which I have seen before.   The revelation for me this time was Movements for Piano and Orchestra, one of Stravinsky's most Webernesque pieces. Somehow, the integration of the music and the choreography struck me as perfect complements to each other; what seems disjunct in the music suddenly became both flowing and clear.  Hard to explain!
I don't think I could ever get tired of Agon; with each performance, I see and hear more. For me, it is the perfect fusion of music and dance.