Menotti: Sebastian / Luening: Legend & Lyric Scene

by London Symphony Orchestra / Jose Serebrier

Sebastian (Complete Ballet) - This work was originally choreographed and presented in 1944 by the Ballet International. It was restaged in 1946 by the so- called Original Ballet Russe. Three other major incarnations took place, firstly in 1957 by the American Ballet Theatre Workshop with choreography by Agnes de Mille and further in 1963 when the work was mounted by the Nederlands Dans Theater with choreography by John Butler who futher refined his efforts and presented it with the Harkness Ballet in 1966. When the work was first heard in New York, critic, Mark Schubart, reporting for The New York Times stated that the music "is prettily orchestrated, and the more violent portions are filled with elaborate percussion effects, flutter-tonguing on the brasses and carefully balanced, effective sonorities." He noted also the "attractive melodies, simple in intent and immediate in appeal."