'What Hindson is doing with Bintley, as Julian Anderson and Gavin Higgins have done with Mark Baldwin, is generating an exhilarating new revival of serious music in the dance theatre, fascinating for the audience and challenging to the dancers.'
The Arts Desk (Ismene Brown), 28 June 2012
The National Ballet of Japan has staged the Japanese premiere of David Bintley’s ballet, Faster, set to a commissioned orchestral score by Matthew Hindson. The 35-minute celebration of athleticism, inspired by the Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' ('Faster, Higher, Stronger') shows off the Hindson – Bintley collaboration, spotlighting Bintley’s choreographic powers, fuelled by Matthew Hindson's vibrant orchestral score. The ballet was originally premiered by the Birmingham Royal Ballet in Birmingham’s Hippodrome in June 2012 and subsequently toured other parts of the UK during the Olympic year.
‘In Faster, the dancers make movements inspired from sports, such as wrestling, synchronized swimming, marathon, basketball and cycling, not only capturing the essence of each sport but also reflecting the joy and agony of athletes. Hindson’s music was effective in his provoking approach, 20 different percussions playing complicated rhythms, creating a thrilling and edgy sense of athleticism with a mixture of medieval ceremonial music and heavy metal.’
Bachtrack (Naomi Mori), 22 April 2014
The National Ballet of Japan’s production of Faster ran for five nights between 19 and 27 April.
Reviews from the original Birmingham Royal Ballet production:
'It’s ballet, but it’s athletics too, and what makes it good art is that it is musical expression too - this is another confident step in the new renaissance of music-driven ballet, spearheaded by Bintley at BRB and by Mark Baldwin at Rambert. Bintley seems finally to be coming into a rich maturity in his talent for sheer balletic movement, more confident in recent years, working not with narratives… but with really exciting new scores. This one is again by the hugely impressive Matthew Hindson, the Australian composer who composed the music for Bintley’s 2010 ballet, e=mc2. What Hindson is doing with Bintley, as Julian Anderson and Gavin Higgins have done with Baldwin, is generating an exhilarating new revival of serious music in the dance theatre, fascinating for the audience and challenging to the dancers.’
The Arts Desk (Ismene Brown), 28 June‘The pace picks up ten-fold via the aptly named Faster, by BRB's artistic director David Bintley. How could it not given Matthew Hindson's excitingly alert, brassy and jangling new score? It was this same Australian composer who fuelled Bintley's physics-themed hit, E=mc2, in 2009. Their latest collaboration feels like another keeper despite its seemingly short-lived topicality.’
The Times (Donald Hutera), 29 June 2012'There are epic moments in Matthew Hindson’s thrilling score, and some heart-stopping ones too…'
The Stage (Pat Ashworth), 28 June 2012