00:06I know Sir Paul has been writing classical music for quite some time, and I knew of his
00:14interest in classical music.
00:16So when we had this chance meeting, I suppose you could call it, at the big gala at the
00:21David Koch Theater, where Paul appeared with his wife-to-be, we got to chat.
00:28And I think it was my suggestion, wasn't it, that we do something, that you might consider
00:33something?
00:33Yeah, Peter said to me, would you ever consider, that was kind of the start of it for me, would
00:41you ever consider writing something for ballet?
00:45And I basically said yes.
01:13I had started a piece of music for another project that didn't work out.
01:20So I kind of had a little bit of piece of music.
01:22So when Peter asked me would I consider, I immediately thought of this other piece of
01:27music.
01:28And I thought, yeah, this is what I should do with this other piece of music now.
01:34So I went back after accepting Peter's offer and tailored it to what I thought might make
01:43a good ballet.
02:04Well, for me, the thing was, when Peter and I started talking, he commissioned me to, on
02:12behalf of New York City Ballet, to do the music for a new ballet.
02:17I had no idea what the rules were, or in fact, if there were any.
02:24So I just went back and wrote music with dance in mind that excited me and that I thought
02:30might excite Peter.
02:33And then when I'd done it all, pretty much done it all, I then thought to myself, well,
02:41what am I going to do, just go and hand this to Peter and say, there you are, dance to
02:45it.
02:46Or am I going to try and think it through a bit more so I can put my input in
02:52there and
02:54take it to Peter and say, look, I've had a couple of ideas that you can reject if you
02:59want to, and if you reject them, tell me yours.
03:03But Peter liked the ideas I came up with.
03:07So it was a pretty definite outline of a story, wasn't it?
03:14Absolutely, yeah.
03:15So then the start of the collaboration, we've had good discussions along the way as to what
03:20might happen.
03:21And I even incorporated some of the moves he suggested.
03:24He wrote the music, the costumes is very much part of your DNA, so to speak.
03:31My daughter.
03:32Right.
03:32Stella.
03:33You made some nice paintings.
03:35I did some sketches.
03:36And made some suggestions as to what these four scenes should look like.
03:39So the only thing missing is the choreography.
03:41And even that, he's basically introduced.
03:51At the beginning of the third movement, I said, OK, she's in prison.
03:54I imagine her.
03:59Peter goes, I love it.
04:01So that's the kind of thing that I'm excited about with the collaboration.
04:05You wrote the libretto, and you sort of determined what the whole ballet should look like.
04:14I run this theatre, and I've been doing this for a long time, and I know that every single
04:19person in that theatre that night is there for one reason.
04:21Not for the ballet, because of the poem.
04:25And everybody's anticipation will be, what does this sound like?
04:29What is this going to sound like?
04:30You know, most people have no clue, and we'll await this great anticipation.
04:35And remember, the very first part should be very little, very…
04:53Let's do it.
05:01Welcome to the world of the ballet.
05:02Let's do it.
05:07Let's do it.
05:11Let's do it.
05:19Let's do it.
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