Bax’s
The Truth About Russian Dancers,
subtitled “showing how they love, how they marry, how they
are made, with how they die and live happily ever after”,
is music to a play by J.M. Barrie (of
Peter Pan fame).
The story is of a prima ballerina from the Russian Ballet
who marries into an upper-class English family. Bax was commissioned
to write it in 1920 for Tamara Karsavina, the prima ballerina
for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to dance at the London Coliseum.
The dance company had returned to London the previous year.
It was revised in 1926 at the Savoy Theatre, although the
full score wasn’t published - only three dances, in a piano
arrangement. This recording is the first performance of the
full score since the actual productions, and the premiere
recording of this music.
The other work on the disc is
From
Dawn to Dusk, another ballet, commissioned by Mrs.
Lowther - later Lady Cholmondley - who also commissioned
Elgar’s
Sanguine Fan. The premiere was conducted
by the light music composer Norman O’Neill for a charity
performance at London’s Palace Theatre, with Mrs. Lowther
dancing the lead. This ballet depicts some china figures – a
Dresden male, a clown, and a Russian ballerina – that come
to life one night at midnight, and dance and quarrel throughout
the night.
The music of both works is hugely attractive – full
of character and charm, and well-written, if not always particularly
memorable. The performances are vibrant and energetic, conducted
with conviction
and understanding. The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays
with panache, in spontaneous, witty, sparkling performances.
This may not be the best disc for those new to Bax to discover
him with, but it is certainly of great interest to those
familiar with his work.
Em Marshall
see also review by Brian Wilson
Track detail
The Truth About the Russian Dancers
Overture. Vivace [4.10]
Entry of Karissima [1.15]
Karissima plays golf [3.02]
Karissima and Lady Vere [1.36]
The Walking Lesson [1.12]
Lord Vere tells his mother of his love for Karissiplf [0.18]
Karissima appeals for love [0.28]
Karissima droops pathetically [1.02]
Karissima's dance of joy [0.42]
The Wedding Ceremony [1.37]
Dance: corps de ballet [1.18]
The Wedding Service [2.52]
A Wild Night-The Maestro [1.54]
The Clock strikes Twelve [0.17]
Lord Vere pleads for a child [0.40]
Karissima and Lord Vere go off in gay delight [0.36]
Dance of Motherhood [6.16]
The Funeral of Karissima [5.34]
Child's Dance [2.16]
Karissima's Farewell [5.57]
Finale. Allegro vivace [3.23]
From Dusk till Dawn
Prelude: Summer Night at the Window [2.07]
The Wind
Dances in the Garden [1.47]
Molto piu lento: Midnight Strikes [0.38]
The
Awakening [1.35]
The Flower's Dance [1.27]
The
Dancer and the Clown [1.32]
The Wind Dances through the
Room [1.11]
Piu lento: The Clock strikes One [0.16]
The
Flowers Dance Again [3.11]
Piu lento: The Clock strikes
Two [0.16]
The Dancer falls weeping into the Clown's arms [0.12]
The
Clown thrusts her aside and scolds her [0.09]
They quarrel [0.37]
The
Wind [1.15]
The Dancer humbly draws the Clown's attention
to the sad fate of his rival [0.59]
The Dancer turns back
to the Clown [0.50]
Dawn [0.27]
The Clock strikes
Three [0.16]
Everything is still, a sad silence reigns [0.52]
The
Wind blows the Dancer into the Clown's stiff arms [0.39]
London
Philharmonic Orchestra/Bryden Thomson 
