CD LABELS AND THE BALLET WORLD: A NEW PROJECT TOGETHER

Understanding the technical intricacies of the ballet world requires a deep collaboration with the music world.

Ballet directors, ballet masters, conductors and musicians specializing in the ballet world, should work together to create something unparalleled that allows artists (dancers and musicians) to express their talent.

One of the most integral elements of a ballet performance is the music. It can be played live or, the majority of times, with CDs.

But the unfortunate truth is that almost all the ballet repertoire music CDs distributed are recorded as a "concert version”.

The result is a major disconnect between the artistic demand of the ballet world and the recorded music available in the market.

Often it's almost impossible to dance to the music because the tempos are not designed for dancing. The recorded music comes with many limitations, which restrict the artist's creativity and expression.

Imagine dancers working on variations, pas de deux and corps de ballets music from great ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, La Bayadere, Raymonda, Le Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty fighting to keep time with the recorded Cds' tempos, usually very quick.

Was Minkus thinking to compose La Bayadere as a concert performance? And what about Tchaikovsky's three masterpieces? If  they had been alive do you think they would have agreed to hear their compositions recorded as if they were a symphony? And what about Marius Petipa's reaction listening to these kind of recordings? Would he be happy? 

They would see people forced to use audio-editing softwares to find the "normal" speed, which could cause a substandard quality of music sound and, above all, can compromise the dancers' performance.

To resolve this issue, it’s time to start new productions of CDs of all the most famous ballets, where orchestra conductors collaborate with ballet directors and balletmasters, for finding the right tempo and the right interpretation of each music piece.  This is essential for creating good quality music that aligns with the artistic visions of the ballet world. 

With the new production of CDs, ballet companies, academies, and schools can use music designed explicitly for their daily work, rehearsals, and performances. They just have to choose the best version according to the “musical interpretation” of an artistic team composed by ballet directors, ballet master and conductors, without having any problem with the tracks speed, just following their personal taste. So, for example,  they could choose between the Royal Ballet Swan Lake version or Paris Opera or Stuttgart Ballet and so on.

In this way there would also be the possibility to have a new great generation of orchestra conductors, very much specialized in conducting for ballet!

CDs created this way, will help bridge the gap between the ballet world and the recorded music industry, and will create more demand for CDs in the market.

This kind of collaboration will represent a revolution in ballet repertoire CD production.

Music labels must join hands with the ballet world to create a bright future for dancers, students, and the music industry as a whole.