At midnight tonight I watched a PBS broadcast of Mark Morris' "Mozart Dances", which was originally performed a year ago at Lincoln Center in New York.The idea of 21st century choreography set to 18th century music didn't at first appeal to me, but it grew on me, and when I saw what Mr. Morris had done with the Sonata in D major for two pianos (K.448), I was completely won over.
I'm not a big dance fan, I confess. Ballet looks ridiculous ("Whee! Watch me twiddle!") and interpretive dance just kind of gets on my nerves. But this was different. Besides the fact that Emanuel Ax and his wife, Yoko Nozaki (no web page) played the duet (Ax also played Concertos no. 11 and 27), the dancing was flawless, novel and downright fun. And not a powdered wig in sight.
"Until I was about 20, I didn't really like Mozart. It all sounded the same to me. It sounded too fragile and sophisticated for dancing. Plus, I was also seeing so many smug, shitty dances that other people had made to Mozart. They were all either powdered wigs, or postmodern comments on powdered wigs." (Mark Morris)At the end of the program the host said that Mozart Dances was slated to play in several cities across the States. I'd really like to see it live, but I doubt they'll be coming to Tulsa...
"Watch me twiddle." Pfft!
ReplyDelete:p
ReplyDelete