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In 1995, English National Ballet commissioned a score for a full length ballet, based on Lewis Carroll s immortal masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland. The one stipulation and challenge was for a score to be based on the music of Tchaikovsky. Carl Davis accepted the challenge and a smash hit was born! The centre of the score is derived from Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young. Davis also drew on Tchaikovsky's Theatre Music, Tone Poems and Operas, as well as the beautiful waltz from the Fifth Symphony for The Garden of Living Flowers. This highly successful production was revived many times, including performances at the Company's London Coliseum seasons. Pittsburgh Ballet in the U.S. has already staged the ballet in April, 2008 and plan to continue performing it. ENB was invited to take the ballet to Hong Kong in March, 2009 and plans a further U.K. tour in 2010. Alice in Wonderland marks the launch of the Carl Davis Collection. There are four projects planned for release in 2009: Alice in Wonderland; the prize-winning soundtrack to Hannah Davis and David Conolly's feature film The Understudy; music for the BBC TV series Cranford and the ballet Cyrano commissioned from Carl Davis by The Birmingham Royal Ballet, choreographed by David Bintley and premiered in 2007. This ballet will go on a national tour including Sadler's Wells in autumn 2009. The Carl Davis Collection has far-reaching plans to produce all major works on both CD and DVD of the compositions of Carl Davis. The Repertoire for the following two years is already in preparation.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
There is an honored tradition of taking source music of one sort or another and using it for a ballet. Think of 'Les Sylphides' with music by Chopin orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov, or Charles Mackerras's arrangement of music from Gilbert & Sullivan operettas for the ballet 'Pineapple Poll'. And the list goes on. Well, here's another one that is particularly well done. Choreographer and artistic director of the English National Ballet Derek Deane had the idea of making a ballet of 'Alice in Wonderland' using the music of Tchaikovsky, than whom there is arguably no better ballet composer. Carl Davis had the idea, then, to arrange some of the scads of virtually unknown music by Tchaikovsky, using primarily numbers from his 'Album for the Young', with orchestrations done by David Matthews. Also used is music from various chamber works, operas, theater music and tone poems and for the 'Garden of Living Flowers' section the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The end result, premiered in 1995, was a hit for the ENB and the production has been toured and performed by other ballet companies.
There are thirty-five sections in the ballet and scenes include the Overture, the White Rabbit, The Fall (down the rabbit hole), the scene where Alice shrinks, the Pool of Tears, the Caucus Race, the Caterpillar (with the hookah), the Garden of Living Flowers, the Duchess's House, the Cheshire Cat, the Tea Party and the Finale (among many others). Much of the music is utterly unfamiliar but utterly Tchaikovsky. A constant delight of tunefulness and appropriateness to the scene it accompanies.
Carl Davis writes a very helpful synopsis complete with quotations from 'Alice' as well as enumerating the specific musical sources for the various scenes. I only wish I could see the ballet now.... Read more ›
There are thirty-five sections in the ballet and scenes include the Overture, the White Rabbit, The Fall (down the rabbit hole), the scene where Alice shrinks, the Pool of Tears, the Caucus Race, the Caterpillar (with the hookah), the Garden of Living Flowers, the Duchess's House, the Cheshire Cat, the Tea Party and the Finale (among many others). Much of the music is utterly unfamiliar but utterly Tchaikovsky. A constant delight of tunefulness and appropriateness to the scene it accompanies.
Carl Davis writes a very helpful synopsis complete with quotations from 'Alice' as well as enumerating the specific musical sources for the various scenes. I only wish I could see the ballet now.... Read more ›
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Clever Idea, Nicely Done
26 Jan 2010
By J Scott Morrison
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
There is an honored tradition of taking source music of one sort or another and using it for a ballet. Think of 'Les Sylphides' with music by Chopin orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov, or Charles Mackerras's arrangement of music from Gilbert & Sullivan operettas for the ballet 'Pineapple Poll'. And the list goes on. Well, here's another one that is particularly well done. Choreographer and artistic director of the English National Ballet Derek Deane had the idea of making a ballet of 'Alice in Wonderland' using the music of Tchaikovsky, than whom there is arguably no better ballet composer. Carl Davis had the idea, then, to arrange some of the scads of virtually unknown music by Tchaikovsky, using primarily numbers from his 'Album for the Young', with orchestrations done by David Matthews. Also used is music from various chamber works, operas, theater music and tone poems and for the 'Garden of Living Flowers' section the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The end result, premiered in 1995, was a hit for the ENB and the production has been toured and performed by other ballet companies.
There are thirty-five sections in the ballet and scenes include the Overture, the White Rabbit, The Fall (down the rabbit hole), the scene where Alice shrinks, the Pool of Tears, the Caucus Race, the Caterpillar (with the hookah), the Garden of Living Flowers, the Duchess's House, the Cheshire Cat, the Tea Party, the Croquet Match, the Lobster Quadrille and the Finale (among many others). Much of the music is utterly unfamiliar but utterly Tchaikovsky. A constant delight of tunefulness and appropriateness to the scene it accompanies.
Carl Davis writes a very helpful synopsis complete with quotations from 'Alice' as well as enumerating the specific musical sources for the various scenes. I only wish I could see the ballet now.
I gave the CD four stars rather than five because the performance by the City of Prague Symphony, conducted by Carl Davis, although generally satisfactory, is not entirely world class.
Scott Morrison
There are thirty-five sections in the ballet and scenes include the Overture, the White Rabbit, The Fall (down the rabbit hole), the scene where Alice shrinks, the Pool of Tears, the Caucus Race, the Caterpillar (with the hookah), the Garden of Living Flowers, the Duchess's House, the Cheshire Cat, the Tea Party, the Croquet Match, the Lobster Quadrille and the Finale (among many others). Much of the music is utterly unfamiliar but utterly Tchaikovsky. A constant delight of tunefulness and appropriateness to the scene it accompanies.
Carl Davis writes a very helpful synopsis complete with quotations from 'Alice' as well as enumerating the specific musical sources for the various scenes. I only wish I could see the ballet now.
I gave the CD four stars rather than five because the performance by the City of Prague Symphony, conducted by Carl Davis, although generally satisfactory, is not entirely world class.
Scott Morrison
5.0 out of 5 stars
good
12 Feb 2013
By Marta
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Product in good conditions and good contents. I bought it new.
I really liked it and i recommend it a lot.
I really liked it and i recommend it a lot.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
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