Another top-drawer entry from Dancerdance: an in-depth interview with Barry Wordsworth (hitherto mainly unpublished material) one of the greats of the ballet conducting world who has recently been appointed Music Director of The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden (see news on Ballet.co).
Lots of interesting insights, and a nice change to see someone daring to express an opinion or six about ballet, music and ballet companies in print. For example, here’s Wordsworth commenting on the perhaps overwhelming legacy of Constant Lambert:
…there have been other conductors since him [Lambert] who have been equally good. I think of Robert Irving, who got so distressed with the way things were at the Royal Ballet because of this whole thing of” Oh it will ever be as good as it was when Constant was here” so he went off to New York. He found himself a job as a music director. […]I think that a lot of the frustration that musicians find when working for ballet companies, is this total lack of support from ballet managements. That is why a great many good conductors do not want to touch it with a bargepole.”
