ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND An Alice without words FOOL’S PARADISE “[Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland] is a book JOBY TALBOT of that extremely rare kind, which will belong to all the generations to come until the language becomes obsolete.” Sir Walter Besant, 1897 Suite from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 1 Prologue [6.48] Joby Talbot’s ballet scores for Alice’s Adventures 2 The Mad Hatter’s Tea-Party [3.08] in Wonderland and Fool’s Paradise were 3 Alice Alone [4.18] both created in collaboration with celebrated 4 The Croquet Match [5.33] choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who first approached Talbot after hearing his piano trio 5 Setting Up the Courtroom [2.46] The Dying Swan. This latter work was originally 6 The Queen of Hearts’ Tango [2.09] commissioned by the British Film Institute in 7 The Cheshire Cat [2.56] 2002 as a new score for the 1917 silent film of 8 The Flower Garden Part I [7.00] the same name by Russian director Evgenii 9 The Flower Garden Part II [4.44] Bauer, itself illustrating the assorted trials of Fool’s Paradise a delicate ballerina in monochrome peril. The 0 Part I [4.58] score’s yearning propulsion and exquisite q Part II [10.40] dissonances evidently suggested to Wheeldon a greater kinetic potential, and so The Dying w Part III [6.51] Swan for piano trio blossomed into Fool’s e Part IV [5.19] Paradise for string orchestra and a new life in Total timings: [67.12] ballet, premiering with New York-based dance company Morphoses at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London in September 2007. JOBY TALBOT ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA CHRISTOPHER AUSTIN CONDUCTOR Artists of The Royal Ballet in Fool’s Paradise © Andrej Uspenski www.signumrecords.com - 3 - Later the following year, Wheeldon was offered of the world down the rabbit-hole, so Talbot “Bob” in this case is the acclaimed production prospect of writing music for a picture that could the opportunity to choreograph a new full-length found himself at once overjoyed and overanxious designer Bob Crowley, whose own career has not exist without his music. narrative work for The Royal Ballet. His choice at the prospect of mobilising the experiences successfully spanned all manner of theatrical of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was instant, of an impressively varied career to meet this genres and who brought to Alice an ingenious Lewis Carroll’s illogical confection having towering brief. combination of exuberance and sophistication been as much a favourite of his own childhood – a description that could as comfortably apply as of so many before and since. The potential Several things reassured him: previous works to both Wheeldon and Talbot’s contributions. for movement offered up by the author’s wild for dance had been well received; a revisiting of A diverse creative history and the accompanying and witty imagination was irresistible, and the book suggested myriad exciting ideas; and sense of possibility it engenders are common besides, Wheeldon is an English alumnus of though he had not written for narrative dance, to all three, and liberated Alice’s development The Royal Ballet – what better fit than this there was plenty of screen scoring experience from the constraints of classical expectation. very English story? While he was confident to refer to – though this latter comfort proved And yet, one strand of Talbot’s history was, in the that ballet would lend itself admirably to the fickle. The greatest encouragement, however, context of this new challenge, quickly exposed task, the matter of conjuring Wonderland’s wordy was Christopher Wheeldon and the memory as something of a false friend: “I thought that world without recourse to language demanded of an enjoyable first collaboration. Which was writing a narrative ballet would be more like an approach that would be at the very least as well when Talbot found himself all but writing film music than it turned out to be,” playful, if not quite hare-brained. Wheeldon’s locked into the choreographer’s New York he admitted ahead of the production’s 2011 next move was no more equivocal: he enlisted apartment for several days with fellow captive premiere. “Within an hour-long film score, only another Englishman – Joby Talbot. Nicholas Wright, the dramatist and, for about ten minutes of music will ever really the purposes of Alice, scenographer. Talbot appear in the foreground to drive the narrative. Talbot has been quoted several times since as explains: “We had the most wonderful few The rest fits behind dialogue, provides saying, with varying degrees of tremor, something days flagging up possible insurmountable atmospheric underscore or catches an emotional to the effect that to have rejected such an offer problems and finding ways to surmount them. moment. In ballet, the music is absolutely would have been as nonsensical as the story It was a case of problems posing themselves, in the foreground all the time: quite literally, he was being asked to tell. Alice was to be the Chris thinking of a way to present them the orchestra is between the audience and first full-length narrative ballet score commissioned choreographically, me thinking how to present them the people dancing on stage. So there’s not by The Royal Ballet in almost 20 years, and musically, and Nick – and then Bob – thinking an easy second in it. As the composer, you’re © Nigel Godrich just as the heroine herself is equally delighted how to present them visually and theatrically.” never off the hook.” Even with this realisation Christopher Wheeldon and Joby Talbot during the first orchestral and terrified by the magical, brutal eccentricities assimilated, Talbot was staring down the rehearsals for the Royal Ballet’s production of Alice. - 4 - - 5 - Armed with the precious scenography and its which sees an adolescent Alice embarking on an position here than in Carroll’s original. “We see Royal Opera House under Barry Wordsworth detailed timings, Talbot sat down to begin. He innocent romance that occupies the narrative people from her point of view,” Talbot explains, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on was sitting for some time: “One always expects driver’s seat; and a notion of why it was “which means Alice can be grumpy, happy, sad 28 February 2011; a sold-out first run followed. a moment where it all starts to flow. You know that Wheeldon had appointed him to the or lonely or exhausted or confused. I could The North American premiere by the National that the first few minutes will be like pulling role: “Fool’s Paradise had elements of creaky have fun with that musically; if Alice were just Ballet of Canada and its orchestra, under teeth but then gradually it will start to come Edwardian tea dance music, but developed amused on the sidelines I’d soon run out of David Briskin, took place on 4 June 2011 at together.” Fortunately some teeth remained in a very modern way with arithmetical games. musical ideas. All these themes come back the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre in by the time the Muse descended into a That may have been a facet of my music to tell the story, and sometimes what you are Toronto, to a reception so enthusiastic that Shoreditch studio, at which Talbot was working that appealed to Chris – given that his own hearing is only one strand in a whole group of it made Alice the company’s highest-grossing on another production: “I locked myself in a work is steeped in classical ballet, but permeated musical games that are going on.” production on record. Wheeldon, Talbot and room with a piano for an hour and came up by a very fresh sensibility – and when I sat Crowley, along with these two eminent with Alice’s theme, the White Rabbit’s theme, down to write Alice I was mindful of the things All of this orchestral colour requires skilful companies, had delivered what all concerned the opening music and a whole lot more, all that he’d liked about that previous score. So manipulation, not only to avoid a cacophonous were hoping for: a ballet with as much for scribbled on the backs of spare bits of music Alice contains melodic or harmonic gestural blur but to wrangle it into a pit of proportions the balletomane as for the uninitiated, and that were lying around. I started putting the elements which wouldn’t seem out of place less Wonderland and more opera house. “I their children. themes together, then created a strange, shifting, in a 19th-century ballet score, yet the whole thing wanted the score to have that massive variety bitonal tick-tock for Wonderland.” is filtered through a minimal, arithmetical prism.” and scale, but you are limited by what can be squeezed into the pit: at the first orchestral Once entered, Wonderland revealed itself to The prism is strung together with themes, rehearsal I was amazed to see that everything Talbot much in the way one would imagine – of which Carroll’s vivid – if not quite profound I’d asked for was actually there. There’s an capriciously, generously yet exasperatingly: – characterisations were amply suggestive. awful lot of percussion.” The orchestrations “Narrative ballet is made up of small set Beyond themes and instrumental pairings for were completed by Talbot along with long-time pieces that have to concern themselves with particular characters – the celesta with the collaborator and friend Christopher Austin, illogical, unmusical considerations. You have White Rabbit; the oboe d’amore for the exotic who also conducts the Royal Philharmonic to fool people into thinking that all these Caterpillar; a (literally) highly-strung solo violin Orchestra in this recording.