I'm usually against artists who appropriate the work of others. Case in point, an entire ballet score that's an amalgam of pieces written by three different composers who never intended their work for that purpose. But in John Neumeier's spectacular staging of "Death in Venice," based on the novel by Thomas Mann, it actually works. Had he decided to set his finale pas de deux to the original orchestration of the Liebstod from "Tristan und Isolde," it would've been borderline ridiculous… but the Liszt orchestration for piano made it all the more effective. And the decision to set a death dance to Jethro Tull's "Bourrée," a re-working of a piece by Bach, was nothing short of genius. And of course, there are the corps of boys cavorting in swimsuits. Ah, aesthetics…
