Unlike Stravinsky, when speaking of Brahms, one rarely pairs his work with dance — beyond Hungarian Dances.
Season 2, episode 15 of the CBS Series Elementary, titled “Corpse de Ballet,” (currently available for free streaming at CBS.com) inspired someone with audio / music responsibilities to extract a few phrases from the Brahms Violin Concerto for two early scenes in the show. The first is taken from the third movement, and the second scene is lifted from the first movement.
The result is quite convincing, not to mention a lot of work, and highlights an excellent performance by violinist Lisa Batiashvili and the Staatskapelle Dresden under the guidance of Christian Thielemann. I have little understanding of ballet, but it seemed to be an appropriate staging for this stunningly lyrical tour de force by Brahms.
Brahms Violin Concerto, third movement in “Elementary” episode
“Corpse de Ballet” featuring Brahms Violin Concerto, third movement.
Lisa Batiashvili performance on DG 0289 479 0086 3 CD DDD GH (2013)
Credits: To Tunefind.com for identifying the artists and movements, to Deutsche Grammophon for the album cover, and to CBS.com for the video from which these two screen grabs are taken.
