In November of 1972, the French choreographer Roland Petit met with the members of Pink Floyd to dicuss collaborating on a new ballet based on Remembrance of Things Past. Rudolph Nureyev was to star in the production.
"Ballet is a little like a film, actually," Nick Mason said in an interview the following February. "The more information you have to start with, the easier it becomes to write." With this in mind, Pink Floyd went out and bought Remembrance, from which to gather their impressions.
Unfortunately, as Mason continued, "nobody read anything. David (Gilmour) did the worst, he only read the first 18 pages."
"I read the second volume of "Swann's Way," Roger Waters said, "and when I got to the end of it I thought, Ôfuck this, I'm not reading any more. I can't handle it.' It just went too slowly for me."
The band got lucky; there was a change in plans. In their next interview, Mason announced "Proust has been kicked in the head." Roland Petit has decided instead to choreograph A Thousand and One Nights.'
(From Pink Floyd. A Visual Documentary by Miles. Omnibus Press, London, 1980)