Product Details

• Actors: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Natalia Dudinskaya
• Format: Black & White, Classical, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kultur Video
• VHS Release Date: March 30, 1999
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 0769720218
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,514 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Glory of the Kirov assembles footage from a variety of Russian sources--some of it, including moments from the early careers of famous defectors like Nureyev and Baryshnikov, was previously suppressed and thought lost. The Kirov Ballet and Opera of St. Petersburg, and their earlier incarnation as the Maryinsky, have always been the Bolshoi's principal Russian rival and an impressive nursery of talent. This profile includes silent footage of the Ballet Russe's Tamara Karsavina doing her barre exercises as well as a classic extract from Ulanova's White Swan pas de deux in the 1940s. The 1960s are heavily represented here with extracts from Glazunov's Raymonda and Khatchaturian's Spartacus as well as even more famous repertory like Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Petipa's choreography for Le Corsaire, as well as two versions of Fokine's Dying Swan, one from Olga Moiseyeva and a performance from Makarova, whose sublimity almost makes us forget the tasteless arrangement of the Saint-Saëns score for strings and Hollywoodesque choir. This disc encapsulates the greatness of Russian ballet in its Soviet period as well as some of its lapses of taste. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk

Product Description

From the early days of this century, the Maryinsky Ballet, later the Kirov, dazzled audiences with the beauty of the dance. Five years research in Russia's archives has unearthed fascinating footage, much of it never before available in the West, of many of the company's great dancers including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Natalia Dudinskaya, and many others. Ballets featured include Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Raymonda and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rare Footage for Balletomanes, June 27, 2000

By 

Deborah Brooks (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Glory of the Kirov [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The glory of the Kirov Ballet has long been documented on video, from
full-length productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle,
Nutcracker to collections of excerpts such as "Classic Kirov
Performances," "The Magic of the Kirov" and
"Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition" (with artists of
both the Kirov and Bolshoi Ballets).

The Glory of the Kirov" is distinguished by a 1920
clip of Tamara Karsavina doing exercises at the barre
and very early performances by the three most famous
of the Russian dancers who defected to the West --
Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia
Makarova. Especially rare is a performance of the
famous "Le Corsaire" pas de deux by Nureyev and Alla
Sizova at a Moscow ballet competition, which they won.
At that time, they were in their graduation year at
the Kirov school, and are still rather green, but
already show signs of greatness to come. (Sizova's
eventual greatness can be seen at length in the 1964
Kirov "Sleeping Beauty.")

Among the other Kirov stars to appear are Natalya
Dudinskaya, Konstantin Sergeyev, Irina Kolpakova,
Vladilen Semenov, Gabriella Komleva and Ninel
Kurgapkina. I was especially impressed by Komleva and
Kurgapkina, both of whom are shown in excerpts from
the '60s, when they were young. Komleva had a lovely,
soft style and approached technical perfection. She
portrays Carlotta Grisi in "Pas de Quatre," a ballet I
normally prefer to skip over. But in this case I was
fascinated by Komleva's precision and subtlety.
Kurgapkina was a very different type of dancer --
vivacious, with an effervescent personality. My
favorite piece on this video is Leonid Jacobsen's
"Vienna Waltz," set to the beautiful waltzes from "Der
Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss. Kurgapkina and
Boris Bregvadze play a coquette and her beau in
mid-19th century Vienna. Kurgapkina manages to be
exceedingly flirtatious without ever becoming coy or
silly. The ballet is both charming and exhilarating.

It is interesting to compare this video with the
similarly named "Glory of the Bolshoi." While the Bolshoi
was famed for its dramatic, flamboyant and somewhat athletic style,
the Kirov was considered the ultimate in pure classical ballet, a
contrast that is evident from the earliest film clips.