Esa-Pekka Salonen + New York City Ballet = 'world premiere'?

Earlier this week, the New York City Ballet announced that it would produce a "world premiere" ballet in its  spring 2010 season featuring a score by Esa-Pekka Salonen and choreography by Peter Martins, the company's ballet master.

As it turns out, the use of the term "world premiere" in this case is highly debatable.

The new production will be set to Salonen's Violin Concerto and will be performed by the NYCB orchestra with soloist Leila Josefowicz. Salonen will conduct the performances, which begins June 22 in New York.

As Los Angeles audiences know, Salonen's Violin Concerto isn't a new work. The piece was first performed with the L.A. Philharmonic in April 2009 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Josefowicz played the solo part on that occasion as well.

So why is the NYCB calling the production a "world premiere"? In its press literature, the company has acknowledged that Salonen's concerto was co-commissioned by the NYCB, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the L.A. Phil, and that the piece debuted at Disney Hall.

A spokesman for the NYCB said that the term "world premiere" in this case refers to the "ballet" whether or not the music has been heard before.

This brings up an old question: Does the term "ballet" refer to the music or the choreography? Or the two together? At its most basic level, ballet is a fusion of movement and sound. But the score can, and often does, have a life of its own, like Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" and Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker."

One could argue that the addition of Martins' choreography to Salonen's music will transform it into a new work of art and that therefore, the June performances qualify as a world premiere. But by the same argument, the production wouldn't be entirely new in the strict sense of the term, just visually enhanced or embellished.

It's quite common for performing arts groups to co-commission new work. Organizations are usually careful when it comes to marketing these pieces, using somewhat awkward terms like "east coast premiere" if the piece has been performed elsewhere.

From a publicity point of view, the imprimatur of a world premiere turns a concert into an event and a must-see. It's a term that is used perhaps too often in the classical music world -- and as such, it has become devalued.

In his review of Salonen's Violin Concerto, Times critic Mark Swed wrote that the piece "is surely the most personal music Salonen has written and the latest and most eloquent evidence yet that that young composer of 20 years ago has found his language. It is the end point of his 17-year journey with the orchestra that, among other things, helped him find his voice."

The spokesman for the NYCB declined to provide more details about the Salonen-Martins collaboration except to say that Martins has not yet begun choreographing the piece.

-- David Ng

Photo: Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leila Josefowicz during a performance of the conductor's Violin Concerto at Walt Disney Concert Hall in April 2009. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[danceralamode]

"At its most basic level, ballet is a fusion of movement and sound."

Incorrect, dance, and ballet, are primary creations and are not dependant upon or fused with the movement, at a basic level. In fact, the fusion comes afterward, after the piece has been part of repertoire for awhile and is a complete production.

This is why we need an actual dance critic at the LAT--someone who has studied dance theory and critique, and who wouldn't make a statement that assumes dance is tied to music.

[Balletomane]

I don't think it's highly debatable from NYCB's position. When a ballet company presents a ballet, if the choreography is new, it's a world premiere. When Balanchine choreographed Scotch Symphony, to take an example at random, the Mendelssohn was 100 years old. The ballet was still a world premiere at its first performance.

[Marina Harss]

It seems relatively obvious to me that what defines a ballet as a ballet is the fact that it is danced, i.e. the choreography, therefore the previous performance was the world premiere of the score (or musical work), and the NEw YOrk performance will be the world première of the ballet. What is so unclear about this?

[Kay]

Agree completely with the other commentators. Martha Graham once said of newspapers that didn't have a dance critic, and so would send their music critic to review her performances, "I wish they'd at least send their sportswriter, because he starts with the body, and so do I."

[Mark Marcus]

Does this constitute a world premiere just because Esa-Pekka Salonen's violin concerto will have some ballet dancers added to it? Uh, no.

[Matt]

You are looking at this from a musicians point of view. The ballet company is presenting work set to that music. It is the choreographer's and ballet company's world premiere, not the musician's.

By this way of thinking, a ballet company would never have a world premiere as very, very rarely would any piece of music be composed for a new ballet.

How the writer and previous commenter don't get this is astounding.

[Amanda Vaill]

When Jerome Robbins's "Dances at a Gathering" was first presented at the New York City Ballet, was it a world premiere? When George Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" and "Duo Concertante" were first presented at NYCB's 1972 Stravinsky Festival, were these ballets world premieres? The answer is Yes. But the Robbins work was set to Chopin piano pieces first performed in the 19th century, and the Balanchine works to Stravinsky compositions written and performed years before they became the basis for ballets. The term "world premiere" refers to the ballet, not the underlying musical work; and I'm surprised that the Los Angeles Times thought this kind of semantic hair-splitting was worth so much precious column space.

[upanishad]

Sometimes, the problem is simply the title of the ballet. I've always had an issue with the fact that Balanchine called his choreographic work, which employed Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony, "Scotch Symphony". Simply stated, Balanchine's work is not Scotch Symphony, by any measure. Indeed, the choreographer has 'scotched' the first movement entirely, has used the work without the composer's permission or even knowledge (he was dead), and has not earned the right to call his work "Scotch Symphony". Call it "Ballet on Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony" or something like that.

[Larry Murray]

City Ballet announced it would "produce a world premiere ballet" and they are correct. It will be the first time the ballet will be performed, and that the music has been heard before - albeit rarely - is not what they are talking about.

At a dance performance, the focus is on dance, and at a classical concert, it is for the music.

It seems clear to me, why does David Ng not get this simple distinction?

[SUZANNE K WALTHER]

HECHNICALLY THE TERM "BALLET" ALWAYS REFERS TO THE CHOREOGRAPHY. THE MUSIC IS THE ACCOMPANYMENT AND A SEPARATE FORM OF ART. THE TWO CAN MERGE AND DEFINITELY COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER. LOOSELY SPEAKING PEOPLE SAY "I AM GOING TO THE BALLET," WHICH MEANS THE WHOLE PERFORMANCE, AND TODAY NEARLY ANY KIND OF DANCE PERFORMANCE.
UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS A HAIR-SPLITTING, NIT-PICKING REVIEW.
SKW

[MarK]

This is just about the most uncontroversial "controversy" i have seen in a long time. And it is particularly silly to have this lively "discussion" before anyone has even started to create the dance piece in question. But here we all are commenting on it, so i guess if the author of the article was trying to generate responses, he has succeeded spectacularly.
If and when the planned first performance does take place, it will obviously be the world premiere of the dance piece, but not of the piece of music. Nothing can possibly be any clearer than that.

[ArtsBeatLA]

Enjoyable debate. I concur with MarK & Mark Marcus (and heartily wish SKW would acquaint herself with the caps lock OFF button...)

Here is David's central point:

"...the imprimatur of a world premiere turns a concert into an event and a must-see. It's a term that is used perhaps too often in the classical music world -- and as such, it has become devalued."

It's only a 'world premier' if no one in the world has heard or seen it before.

Hype, hyperbole, razzmatazz -- who cares about accuracy in publicity and promotion? Whatever gets the punters in the door, right?