Episode 45: See the Music: La Valse

City Ballet The Podcast

In this new See the Music episode, host and NYCB Orchestra Music Director Andrew Litton leads us through the history and multi-faceted movements of the music for George Balanchine's La Valse. Choreographed in 1951, the score combines two of Maurice Ravel's compositions: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and La Valse—a "genius" merging of two interrelated works by Balanchine. Litton is joined by Solo Pianist Alan Moverman, whose piano renditions of excerpts from the score capture its by turns beguiling, bittersweet, and bombastic approaches to the waltz. (26:40) Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1911, orchestrated 1912) and La Valse (1920) by Maurice Ravel Symphony in Three Movements (1945) by Igor Stravinsky