A Tribute to Balanchine (1983) Lincoln Center at Home

I am rather overwhelmed attempting to write about the three Balanchine ballets in the recent broadcast by Lincoln Center at Home:  Who Cares (1970), Vienna Waltzes (1977) and Mozartiana (1981) -- so I will keep my comments rather brief, though I have already written about Vienna Waltzes (Sept. 26 2016) and Mozartiana (Jan.31 2018 and Jan. 29 2019) and I will post more about Who Cares when it returns to repertory and we are able to once again see live performances; the recordings are nice to have in the meantime, as one can watch them multiple times.

Certainly this recording from May 1983 (a month after Balanchine's death)is of historical interest, including many now retired dancers:  Suzanne Farrell in Vienna Waltzes and Mozartiana; Kyra Nichols, Heather Watts and Adam Luders in Vienna Waltzes; Patricia McBride, Lourdes Lopez and Mel Tomlinson in Who Cares and Sean Lavery in Vienna Waltzes and Who Cares (Lavery had to stop dancing when he turned thirty in 1986 due to a serious illness; he died in 2018)

The highlights for me in this program:  Suzanne Farrell, Adam Luders and the corps dancing to Ricard Strauss's waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier, that seemed to me influenced by Ernst Lubitsch's film of The Merry Widow (1934):  it starts out with Farrell all alone, then joined and separated and joined again by Adam Luders before they are swept together with dozens of other couples as the bright lights come on.
In Mozartiana --Balanchine's final masterpiece -- Suzanne Farrell dances with Ib Andersen, as she looks back to her childhood (represented by four young girls from The School of the American Ballet) and forward to death, possibly represented by Victor Castelli, dancing a gigue.  This version of Mozartiana is the fourth version made by Balanchine to this Tschaikovsky music; it fascinated him throughout his life, the first version was in 1933.
For me the highlight of Who Cares is the pas de deux of Sean Lavery and Patricia McBride in The  Man I Love, one of seventeen Gershwin songs in the ballet, orchestrated by Hershy Kay.  Who Cares is a ballet of the seventies that looks back to the twenties and today looks more classic than ever, with Balanchine's ballet interpretation of these wonderful popular songs.

I have said before in this blog that some of my favorite Balanchine ballets are done in practice clothes, where the classical line is sharper and more precise. But many Balanchine ballets have marvelous and appropriate costumes; in this case Karinska's for Vienna Waltzes and Who Cares and Rouben Ter-Arutunian's for Mozartiana.  Also, kudos for Robert Irving, conducting beautifully.