Customer Reviews

Hans Werner Henze: Ondine - featuring the Royal Ballet [Blu-ray]

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After several years of research on Perrot's Ondine ( Cesare Pugni's music ) and on Giraudoux's play, F.Ashton set to work on a new ballet far from 19th century romanticism.And he chose a german composer to provide the score. Henze's intention,I'm sure,was to compose music that would sound like(or suggest) water but the result is a most boring,uninteresting,melodiousless flow of notes.Nevertheless, Margot Fonteyn (for whom Ashton created this Ondine)gave life to the nereid Ondine and danced the role with infinite grace,musicality,and elegance,'naive and loving'(as she described Ondine's character) displaying her immense genius as one can watch in Czinner's film (1959)"The Royal Ballet" dancing with Soames.This, unfortunately, is not the case of Miyako Yoshida on this DVD,a down-to-earth Ondine,much absorbed in her choreography to consider dancing her role more like a water spirit she supposedly is.I wish Tamara Rojo would dance on this DVD for I am sure she gave the role, intelligent and sensitive as she is, another colour.Watson dances beautifully but somehow emotionally distant from his partner.José Martin in Act 3 'divertissement' dances skillfully, once more showing his versatility.Costumes are the original ones designed by Lila de Nobili,top note for John Read's lighting design and the The Royal Ballet Corps.Filmed in High Definition.

My sister saw Margot Fonteyn in this role and constantly urged me to see it. Performances are rare and recordings rarer - until now. This fills the bill wonderfully and I thoroughly enjoyed this disc. Miyako Yoshida is just magical and the whole production and performance gleams with movement and light. The music is not Tchaikovsky but it is very agreeable and the whole production is a delight. This is the only way most ballet lovers will ever see this work and you should grab it at once. Exceptional value.