Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An outstanding figure in the history of ballet, a dancer and choreographer.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler
Well, the first one is uh Mozart. This is a symphony number forty.
Boris GodunovFavourite
I still think it is a great monument to the Russian music in addition to the marvelous artist and singer that Fyodor Shaleppin was.
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Monteux
Well, the next record is Stravinsky's Sacred Breton, a writ of spring.
Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by the composer
Well, uh I think we we could play Hindimith uh Nobilissima Vizione.
Bach A depression of Saint Jean.
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch
Well, record number six I think should be Wagner, Wagner's Percival.
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
Of course, when I started to do these symphonic works and uh I suddenly thought, well, since Wagner said that the seventh is the uh sort of apotheosis of dancing, why don't I take don't I take that?
Geraint Evans, conducted by Georg Solti
Well, I would uh love to have Verdi. I think Falstaff would be good choice, you see, which I understand he composed in very late years of his life.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:18How well do you think you could endure loneliness?
You see, um uh perhaps it is peculiar case, but I never am al even when I'm alone, I am uh not alone. I have always my thoughts and my work and uh … my curiosity push me towards the new horizons.
Presenter asks
6:26Was acting as important to you as dancing?
Oh, enormously important. Enormously. … I was uh fascinated by their uh uh executing their parts, you see, and uh more and more I thought that there's a lot to say in drama, probably more than in ballet.
Presenter asks
7:09Was it the prospect of travel that made you decide to join [Diaghilev]?
Well, this uh joining D is one of my uh sort of enigma decisions. I still don't know why I decided to go. Because I was told by some actors of uh Dramatic of Mali theatre that I should stay, that it is quite wrong for me to to break at that point when I had almost leading parts in some contemporary plays.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Leonide Massine
I obviously never leave my hands. It's The Theory of Choreography. I'm sorry to say I'm the author of it.
The luxury
Not recorded.
Whose idea was it that you should choreograph, yours or Dyaglev's?
Well, it was a Dyaglev idea in a great deal. He remained sort of without choreographer and he saw me developing little by little. … But at first I said to him very frankly, … He said, Can you choreograph? I said, No. Then I turned round … I looked at this marvelous genius of painters. … Well, I think I can. And I said to him that very foolish phrase said, Not one bale, but hundred balis.
Presenter asks
11:43With Jagilev gone, you worked for the Monte Carlo company. Were there the same opportunities?
Well, um The same opportunities is of course a Hmm, I must say at once no. … Why? Because Jaglif was no longer there. Yes. There was no guiding spirit. and I had to live with all I have inherited from Djaglif.
Presenter asks
16:06Have you been back [to Russia]?
Yes, I have been back twice in Russia, in 1962 and 1963. And I visited ministry and was invited officially to produce one spectacle in Moscow of my works and one in Leningrad. … Well, it was in 1963, and I'm still waiting for the date.
“I never am al even when I'm alone, I am uh not alone. I have always my thoughts and my work and uh … my curiosity push me towards the new horizons.”
“I was so to say freak of a family.”
“Art must be progressing. So that's it. That was the sort of uh trend of my thoughts.”