Finding the Music: DYBBUK

Just in the weeks before Tower Records was sold and the liquidation process began, we were doing our usual preparation for the 2006-07 season at Lincoln Center. Bryan, my boss, and the two buyers would try to bring in as many different versions as were available of the operas, symphonic and chamber works that were to be presented at the various Lincoln Center venues as well as Carnegie Hall, BAM, etc. One of my jobs was to round up the ballet titles - not just the SWAN LAKEs and ROMEO & JULIETs but the shorter & less-known works to which much of NYC Ballet's repertoire is set. So in the past couple of years we not only found and imported several copies of the ballet version of MANON for the ABT revival but also the music for such Diamond Project hits as RUSSIAN SEASONS and EVENFALL.

One work I imagine people will be looking for this season is Bernstein's DYBBUK. I believe the Robbins ballet was last performed at NYCB back in the 1970s. I remember seeing a performance with McBride & Tomasson; my diary says little about it except that it was "dark" and I didn't like it that much.  But I am more than ready to see it again; now that I've grown up, it might make a very different impression.

I wanted to let readers know that the score of the full ballet has been recorded (it seems Robbins culled from the full work to build his "suite"). It's available on a two-disc Deutsche Grammphon set called JUDAICA. Bernstein conducts his Jeremiah and Kaddish symphonies as well as the ballet score. Voice buffs may be lured to the set by the presence of Montserrat Caballe and Christa Ludwig as vocal soloists.

Amazon has several new and used copies listed at prices which seem pretty reasonable for a 2-disc set. I found it by doing a search for "Judaica Bernstein" under classical music at the Amazon website. This isn't a plug for the disc (I haven't heard it) or for Bernstein, DG or Amazon. It's a shameless plug for NYCB, however.

Readers may feel free to pass this information along to other dance sites.

Comments

[tonya]

Aargh! I remember being so excited when I saw that bin with all of the for sale videos in the store -- I immediately ran toward it and began searching through it for all the ballets, and, to my shock, could find none of them. I thought I was going nuts -- they had all of these Hollywood blockbuster movies left but none of the ballets. Now I know where they all went!!