An exciting performance
A very exciting performance of Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 by Tiler Peck at NYCB tonight (Sept. 20). The whole ballet is such a whirlwind, crashing from one crescendo and cadenza to the next. Peck rides the wave of Tchaikovsky's almost absurdly grandiloquent music, and even, at times, seems to be conducting the orchestra with her body. The notes of the piano dance across her arms. I particularly love the way she goes from fast to slow and slow to fast in an instant, and how she stops on a dime, just as her body finishes accelerating, for example at the end of a turn. The way she maintains the never-ending crescendo at the end of the first movement is just incredibly exciting. I found myself holding my breath. The release at the end is all the more joyful.