Leave it to the British to come up with a lushly and lovingly performed ballet setting of Thomas Hardy’s tragicomic novel, Far From the Madding Crowd. Composer Paul Reade (1943-87) gained his compositional experience by writing the incidental music for various British television productions, including several literary classics such as A Tale of Two Cities and Jane Eyre. The experience certainly served him well. Far From the Madding Crowd was Reade’s first theatrical ballet score and it is British romanticism at its best (even though it sounds nothing like any one particular British romanticist–Vaughan Williams, Bax, Holst, etc.). The score is full of rural romps and celebrations, (“The Proposal”, “The Hiring Fair”, and Greenhill Fair”) as well as the occasional heartbreaking lyric, such as “Fanny Robin and Troy” and “Lament for Fanny Robin”. There are no dead spots or weak transitions; Reade keeps everything moving right along and his ideas are always engaging, never gratuitous. Paul Murphy conducts the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with just enough flair and exuberance and the physical sound is spectacular without being flashy or brash. Highly recommended.
