You need To Check this Tchaikovsky The Sleeping Beauty Blu ray
This DVD is primarily a celebration of the opening of the newly refurbished and truly majestic Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The disc in HD and Blu-Ray is simply awesome in its presentation. At the outset we see this huge building and then inside this immence space with the redone Royal Box with its gold double eagle of the Romanovs and the masses of gold leaf on all seven tiers of the theater set off by masses of rich red velvet hung everywhere and you are transported back to the grandeur of Czarist Russia. Then the curtain opens and we see the most lavish of productions; beautiful spiral columns and a seaside palace setting with more pillars. (Sleeping Beauty from its premier in January 1890, revival by Diaghilev in 1921 in Paris to Sergeyev's 1939 revival for the old Vic-Wells in London have all been noted for big lavish productions that almost bankrupted each company). I don't know about the funding but this Bolshoi is the grandest most lavish I've witnessed in well over a half century of attendance of dance .
The one thing that Sleeping Beauty has that Bayadere, Don Quixote, Raymonda, Paquita etc. etc. don't have is GOOD music . Tchaikovsky's three still rein as the greats in 19th century ballet. This with it's most brilliant choreographer Petipa make for quintessential grand ballet.
The present production has choreography revised by Yuri Grigorovich who has "cleansed" the additions to the original Petipa score and brought in modern techniques of dancing . The story of Sleeping Beauty is somewhat thin but this ballet is about dancing and it is filled with it. There is a constant array of dance s on stage . Grigorovich was noted for filling the stage with dance rs and moving them around in a beautiful manner. What better way to show off the corps of the Bolshoi. The corps moves and works as a unit. In dance after dance one is mesmerised by the beauty of the dance and the music .
The Aurora is the fantastic Svetlana Zakharova, her matchless technique is superb. I have watched this disc over and over and found every movement of hand, foot, arm and body is just right. She is a classic beauty of face so perhaps not quite perfect for the sixteen year old princess. David Hallberg is the Prince Desire and every inch a Prince. He made his fame at American Ballet Theater in New York where I always enjoyed his great performances. Now he has been (uniquely) engaged by the Bolshoi. Maria Allash always does a fine job this time as the Lilac Fairy. The Carabosse is Alexey Loparevich, a fun and frightening "bad spirit". The whole cast is excellent. The setting is the lavish splendor of the world of Louis quatorze as was the original of Petipa. It was at this time that the "ballet" as such was conceived and nurtured. Petipa incorporated the essence of French dance spirit with that of Spain, Italy and of course Russia in this grand work. I highly recommend this disc; it is a total success in all respects.
ReplyDeleteAnother spectacular performance by the Bolshoi. If you enjoy ballet, and enjoy the Russian tradition of excellence from this group, then you shall enjoy this DVD.
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