7 replies to this topic

[rona910]

Saw this in Aberdeen Thursday 22nd May.
I'm no ballet expert, but the dancing was great IMO - Jarkko Lehmus (Tybalt) and William Smith (Mercutio) particularly stood out.

But...
I was so disappointed with Scottish Ballet Orchestra. There were some nice moments, but too much of it was just awful. The tuba could barely get his notes to speak in the first half, most of the woodwind were horribly out of tune and every time the horns went above about a third space C it was split. And i mean EVERY time.

Has anyone else seen it? Has the music been this bad throughout the whole tour or was it just a bad night for them?

[mjr]

Saw this in Aberdeen Thursday 22nd May.
I'm no ballet expert, but the dancing was great IMO - Jarkko Lehmus (Tybalt) and William Smith (Mercutio) particularly stood out.

But...
I was so disappointed with Scottish Ballet Orchestra. There were some nice moments, but too much of it was just awful. The tuba could barely get his notes to speak in the first half, most of the woodwind were horribly out of tune and every time the horns went above about a third space C it was split. And i mean EVERY time.

Has anyone else seen it? Has the music been this bad throughout the whole tour or was it just a bad night for them?

Well, Scottiosh ballet orchestra are probably the most under played orchestra in scotland at the moment. In recent years they have used sdcottish opera orchestra once or twice, and that was something. Compared to that of the orchestra iof the royal opera hosue, scottisdh ballet orchestra aren;t that secure in my opinion.

[rona910]

Well, Scottiosh ballet orchestra are probably the most under played orchestra in scotland at the moment.

And it shows! They sounded under-rehearsed, not just under-played! It sounded like the kind of standard you would get in a first or second full rehearsal to be honest.
Mind you, Terry Johns (their 1st horn) has been with RSNO the last few months, plus he's still tutor at St. Mary's. Mind you, having said that, the last time I checked, St Mary's only had one horn, and it was as a second study. I'm not sure about any of the rest of them though...

[operasaz]

That must have been annoying for you, nothing like looking forward to a production and then being let down.  Have you seen any other reviews from press etc?  

Is the post from the anonymous guest on behalf of the ballet company?

[mjr]

That must have been annoying for you, nothing like looking forward to a production and then being let down. Have you seen any other reviews from press etc?

Is the post from the anonymous guest on behalf of the ballet company?

I don't know, but the guest poster is very in the know about players for a specific performance in Aberdeen when the production was seen in 2008! That was when the thread was started making it very strange how its being defended now.

[mjr]

Well, here is my favourite production of Romeo & Juliet!

Highly recommended indeed.

I agree, is also my favourite!