Customer Reviews

Richard Strauss - Josephs Legende (The Legend of Joseph)

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I first had this ballet on Laser Disc and watch it at least a dozen times. It was the best photographed ballet I had seen up to that time. The DVD is even better since the images are sharper; and it is still the best photographed of any ballet I have seen. The close-ups are excellent and in no way impede the dancing. While I don't considered myself an expert on dance, I have 40 ballet DVDs and see 2 or 3 live productions
a year.

This a superb recording of the video (ballet) and music of Strauss. A rarely performed work the is great Strauss.

I drafted this review just after having finished viewing "Josephs Legende" (music by Richard Strauss), the ballet, as the great John Neumeyer choreographed the work, altering it somewhat from its original 1914 conception. Kevin Haigen appears in the title role and, let me tell the world, HE IS FABULOUS, a wonderful dancer already at this point in his career (1977) and physically of achingly youthful male loveliness, all the more so as his body is stripped to a mere loincloth, revealing his superb physique. The video is exceedingly well filmed, one that expertly captures the stage view, whether, variously, up-close or recessed, delivering what a dance-minded viewer wants and needs most to see, and the audio aspect satisfies, too, the great orchestra`s playing luxurious and vivid (the conductor, Heinrich Hollreiser, being very experienced as a conductor of Strauss` music), captured in good sound. This DVD (Deutsche Grammophon 00440-073-4315) is truly extraordinary and any lover of classical ballet ought to obtain it (or at least to find a way to watch it). Since I. Taylor already has written perceptively of this filmed ballet, in his user`s review for Amazon`s sister U.K. WWW site (to which I refer those interested), my comments here are brief (and confirmatory).

Musicologists long have tended to denigrate Strauss` music in this particular score, but it works with wonderful immediacy as a balletic theatre piece and, in context, is lushly gorgeous and drammatically apt. I wanted, without delay, on first viewing, to watch this DVD over and over again, which is not hard to do, given that the ballet is fairly brief. John Neumeyer`s choreography is quite beautiful and interestingly inventive, potently erotic in an headily pansexual manner, a wonderful vehicle for Kevin Haigen`s immense talent as well as for the other dance soloists, of whom Franz Wilhelm, as Potiphar, is particularly fine. Otain this DVD without further delay; it will be one to cherish and to view many times over!