Gustavo Ramirez Sansano's Victoria pairs the Spanish choreographer’s audacious, athletic movement style with the propulsive drive of Rewriting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony by award-winning composer Michael Gordon to create a work that feels vital and thrillingly of-the-moment.
Gordon explained how his score differs from Beethoven's original work in this program note:
"Beethoven's brutish and loud music has always inspired me. At the time it was written, it was probably the loudest music on the planet. The raw power of his orchestral writing burned through the style of the time.
A commission by the Beethoven-Fest Bonn gave me the opportunity to ask this question: What if someone, while writing a piece of music for orchestra, just happened to stumble over the same material that Beethoven used? What if someone unknowingly used this material in the course of writing his or her new work?
In Rewriting Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, I retained one essential musical idea from each movement of the original work. From the first movement, I couldn’t resist working with the huge barbaric opening chords. From the second movement, I took the divine and other-worldly theme, adjusting it slightly so that when it ends, it is in a key one half-step higher. The theme continues to cycle around and slowly spirals up. From the third movement, I lifted the background accompaniment and brought it to the foreground. From the fourth movement I used the main theme.
Did this 'rewriting' transform the music, or did the music transform me? Throughout the process I questioned, Who am I to take these precious notes and mash them into clay? But at a certain point I simply got lost in the material. I revelled in its power. I forgot about these questions in my mind. I forgot about Beethoven."
PRESS COVERAGE
“Victoria builds up kinetic excitement in a number of ways, not least by shunting groups of dancers purposefully around the space. The idiom often resembles, or borrows from, hip-hop style, with isolated movements of limbs and muscles passing like currents through the body."
–Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times, 12/4/17
"Mr. Sansano channels his slinky, high-velocity style in this exploration of conflict and solidarity."
–Siobhan Burke, The New York Times, 11/26/17
"A musical and choreographic payoff that cannot be denied. Sansano has grabbed hold with a vengeance of Rewriting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, a radical deconstruction of the galvanic classic as devised by Michael Gordon, the American composer who was a co-founder of Bang on a Can. And he sets his dancers into a state of unrelentingly jerky madhouse agitation. But then just as the music soars to a more triumphant, exuberant and melodic climax so does the choreography in this audacious work that is insanely demanding of both its dancers and its audience. Quite the exorcism."
–Hedy Weiss, WTTW Chicago, 3/12/18
"A bold and ambitious addition to the repertoire, and the dancers rose to the occasion with committed, expressive performances. Visually striking, the tone is set by stark, evocative lighting and three floor-to-ceiling structures that resemble post-apocalyptic birch trees designed by Luis Crespo. Below their limbs, a community gathers in agitated solos, muscular duets, and slow, solemn marches across the stage. The work is driven by Michael Gordon's raucous, raw score. The music coheres when it catches the dance-like lift of Beethoven's final Allegro con brio. The full ensemble lines up across stage, and the dancers erupt into unison phrases that layer and fracture. When the dancers confidently march into the darkness, we get a sense that the 'victory' of the title is survival."
–Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe, 3/25/18
The creation of Victoria is made possible with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Leadership support for the creation of Victoria is provided by The Pamela D. Zilly & John H. Schaefer New Works Endowment Fund.
Generous support is also provided by Simin N. Allison, Tracy Elise Poole, and The Fred Eychaner New Works Endowment Fund.
Collin Heyward in Victoria, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Danica Paulos & Belen Pereyra in Victoria, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Jacquelin Harris in Victoria, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Sean Aaron Carmon, Danica Paulos & Company in Victoria, photo by Paul Kolnik