Customer Reviews

Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes: The Firebird/Le Sacre du Printemps [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Finding a decent production of Stravinsky's first ballet, The Firebird, on DVD is fairly easy. Finding one of his most popular (and notorious) ballet, Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), is not so easy. Thankfully, this DVD contains both of these great 20th century works, performed energetically by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Ballet, under the baton of the great Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.

CD recordings of both of these works, conducted by Gergiev, have received positive reviews. For this DVD, great care went into researching and trying to reconstruct the original choreography. The faithful reproduction of these works are primarily the responsibility of dance historian Kenneth Archer and choreographer Millicent Hodson. Both took great care in presenting these ballets as they might have been seen in 1910 and, scandalously, in 1913, when the debut of Le Sacre du Printemps caused a riot when it appeared at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

Fans of ballet and contemporary dance should not hesitate in picking up this DVD. Both performances were filmed in HD, and many camera angles (including aerial) are used to show the work that went into staging these great ballets. Extras include an interview with Archer and Hodson, rehearsal sequences, and historical information about Stravinsky, the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, and the impresario Serge Diaghilev. This DVD is released in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ballet Russes.

Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring / Alexander Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy - Valery Gergiev / Kirov Orchestra

Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird (Complete Ballet, 1910) / Alexander Scriabin: Prometheus - The Poem of Fire - Valery Gergiev / Kirov Orchestra, St. Petersburg / Alexander Toradze

To start off, two great things in this DVD's favor: It's in HD and Valery Gergiev is conducting.

Firebird: I believe I own a copy of every DVD of this ballet: This one goes right to the top for some important reasons. Gergiev: I've always liked his cd of this music, and if anything his interpretation here is even more musical, more luminous, more coloristic here than on the cd. (!) Worth buying for the audio portion alone. Ekaterina Kondaurova as The Firebird: Absolutely spell-binding. You can see her dance some Forsythe on YouTube and she is a WOW as a Forsythe dancer, even better, I would say, than Sylvie Guillem (and that is saying something). She's 5'8", over 6' en pointe, and that alone gives her a great stage presence--a commanding presence in this ballet especially where that commanding presence is almost a requirement. And talk about expressive!: every part of her body, including the most mesmerizing arms and hands. Leeann Benjamin--my now-second-favorite Firebird--says that this is the most difficult ballet to dance because there are so many jumps and you have to do them all while giving the impression somehow of a bird. Kondaurova does just that. (A special personal delight: In the pas de deux between the Firebird and Ivan, at one point he carries her on his shoulder, during which, in all the other recordings, she does something which resembles the breast stroke and which looks silly to me. Kondaurova manages to look fetchingly bird-like and not do this swim stroke at all.) She dances with great amplitude, suppleness and clarity and makes great use of her arched Russian back. I could watch this DVD forever, I think, and never tire in the least of her dancing--it's that wonderful. Ilya Kuznetsov as Ivan: Wow! All other Ivans look rather pale beside his, including Liepa's. Here's a role with no actual dancing in it (unless you consider partnering dancing)--I would think, a rather thankless role--but he gives to it unstintingly. You can easily read all kinds of emotions appropriate to, and enhancing of, the drama in his face, his manner. Bravo! "There are no small parts,..." I could go on, but you get the picture I am sure.

Le Sacre du Printemps: This is a reproduction--as best as can be in this time--of the original that caused such a sensation. Very much an ensemble ballet, much like Les Noces. Everything that is/was classical ballet was thrown out the window: no pointe shoes, no figure-revealing costumes, no classical ballet vocabulary, and not even any turn-out (it's in fact all turn-IN instead)! By-and-large the dancers do a good job of creating an atmosphere of a pagan rite, but for me, at least, it could still look MORE pagan, more primitive. And The Chosen One, Alexandra Iosifidi, is tall (also) and is gorgeous, but to me never looks, while she is standing dead still or while she is dancing, that she is AFRAID. (I would love to see the Joffrey make a DVD of their "Rite" (even without Gergiev) to see how it stacks up, as I have read great things about it.) Of course, she is gorgeous and you can't get a more beautiful name than "Iosifidi". Gergiev is once again magnificent.

All-in-all, very highly recommended.

Young Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's first ballet The Firebird created a sensation in Paris when it was first presented in 1910 by Les Ballets Russes. The second of the trio, Petroushka, appeared the following year. The third,Le Sacre du Printemps, the most revolutionary ballet ever performed and almost impossible to dance because of its irregular rhythms, caused a riot at its premiere in 1913.

Now it is possible to see what caused the uproar with the recreation of the original performances of Firebird and Rite of Spring by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Ballet. Both outstanding performances are conducted by Valery Gergiev and are based on the original choreography by Michel Fokine for Firebird and Vaslav Nijinsky for Rite of Spring.

There are several excellent performances on DVD of The Firebird and a few of The Rite of Spring, but this one is unique. It allows you to see what the Paris audiences saw at the beginning of the last century. Both performances still look revolutionary today. Ballet has never been the same since.

This is the best ballet Blu-ray DVD available to date. Both ballets are performed live at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg Russia. Gergiev's interpretation of the Firebird score is superb: rendering all the inner details of this masterpiece with perfect sensitivity to the story and to Fokine's choreography. In fact, it's worth buying this DVD just to hear the sound recording of the Firebird. Yet, there's more: the dancing is also first rate. Note that this is the same Kirov production of the Firebird filmed in Paris in 2002 featuring Diana Vishneva, also available on DVD (see "The Kirov Celebrates Nijinsky"). However, this 2008 performance is overall superior to that older one even though a less famous ballerina, Ekaterina Kondaurova, dances the title role.

Rite of Spring is also very well done but this is the first time I've seen the Nijinsky choreography as reconstructed by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer. Seeing it myself for the very first time, I could much more easily understand the reaction of the Parisian audience at the premiere in 1913. Those who contend that the riot was more a result of the choreography than Stravinsky's score are probably right. Nijinsky's approach is not merely different from classical ballet but nearly hostile to it, sort of an anti-ballet. Turned in legs, flat feet, off balance and hunched over postures with angular arm positions are all purposely the exact opposite of the classical style. Most telling of all is that the Chosen One is the one dancer who keeps tripping and falling down, apparently unable to keep her balance. In other words, the least balletic dancer is the one chosen to be glorified in the ritual sacrifice. The dancers also punch their fists into the air - a not so subtle gesture having but one unmistakable meaning to the Parisian audience of the time: Revolution! No wonder fist fights broke out amongst some audience members who had never seen what we now call modern dance.

The sound quality and video production quality are flawless: None of the motion artifacts I've seen on some other ballet DVDs, such as blurring or dancing that's not quite in sync with the music. As near to perfection as one could possibly hope for.

One of the most interesting and striking aspects about these excellent productions by the Mariinsky Theatre of two of Stravinsky's most famous ballets is the elegance of the dancing. Just compare the Russian company's performance of LE SACRE with that of the Joffrey Ballet (available on YOUTUBE in a watchable transcription of the original NPR broadcast, part of its "Dance in America" series), and you'll be immediately struck by the more secure technique of the Mariinsky dancers as opposed to that of the somewhat faster, more percussive and angular(emphasizing sharp angles) performance by the Joffrey. I found the Joffrey somewhat detached and slightly mechanical in their rendering of Part 1, and not as effective as the newer Russian version reviewed here. However, it's definetly worth comparing these two versions in Part 2, since the Joffrey's Young Girls are very effective in their parts, and Beatriz Rodriguez as The Chosen One is really outstanding in the Sacraficial Dance, showing palpable fear as well as generating real excitement. In contrast, Alexandra Iosifidi, the Mariinsky's Chosen One, is perhaps a bit less convincing, not showing as much emotion, but still very, very good. But overall, this new Mariinsky production is far superior in all the important areas, including their greater fluidity and elegance of performance, undoubtedly because this reproduction of Nijinsky's original choreography has been available for about twenty years by now, and because Valery Giergiev is a great conductor who generates more excitement in this live performance. (The Joffrey seems to be in a studio).

The FIREBIRD is given an equally splendid performance, with interesting differences in contrast to the studio performance seen on Decca's wonderful "Return of the Firebird," which includes equally fine productions of "Petrushka" and Diagelev's ballet based on "Scheherazade." If you have a copy of that DVD and this new Mariinsky DVD, you'll be able to treat yourself to a profound experience of the evolution of some of the greatest ballets ever created because you'll realize that Stravinsky wrote the music of his first three ballets to be danced to, and that specific parts of the music correspond to specific parts of a story. You'll never listen to the music in the same way after you see what it was created for.

Perhaps the best aspect of this high quality and historically accurate production of The Rites of Spring is that it enables you both to understand the anger of the audience and the genius of Stravinsky. The art lovers who came to the theater and were greeted by totally unrecognizable cultural vocabulary were understandably shocked.

In fact such an audience is far superior to the ones the art world gets today who are so unschooled that it is politically correct (and demanded) to approve of anything sent their way. So you have, for instance, museum goers oohing and ahhing over a dead shark in a tank of formaldehyde. The turn of the century art lovers might have had too little imagination to appreciate what they watched, but they had the neccessary education and taste to appreciate most of what they saw.

At the same time, to watch the Rites as presented here is to see Stravinsky's genius and originality. For The Rites is beautiful, and while it requires a fresh look at the vocabulary of dance different from what was the standard of 1912, it is rewarding.

It would be useful to read one of the numerous books on The Rites of Spring in order to enjoy the performance. I recommend Modris Ekstein's The Rites of Spring which covers the rise of modernism from The Rites of Spring through the end of World War I. Although the book does not spend a lot of time on the performance itself, it fits The Rites firmly into its time and place and shows just how revolutionary it was.

I'm encouraged by some of the less flattering reviews here from people who have a more refined knowledge of dance than I do. It shows that there is still a cadre of art lovers who have taste and standards. However, for someone like me, who loves dance in all its forms but lacks the background to be truly discriminating, I can assure you that whatever the flaws in the performance here, they are invisible to most people.

Since this is likely the only quality performance of The Rites of Spring we'll get for a long time, and the only historically accurate version we'll get for an even longer time, this is the one to see

This is a most enjoyable DVD. I am a musician, not a dance connoisseur, and my enjoyment of ballet reflects primarily how the dance interacts with a great musical score. Here we have two of Stravinsky's great early ballets, with restored choreography from the epochal original productions by Dyagilev's Ballets Russes, produced by one of Russia's great dance companies, and led by a great Russian conductor. How could one miss? "The Firebird" is beautiful classical dance, with a fanciful scenario and brilliant stage effects to match the inimitably colorful music. I have a copy of the PBS program about the restoration of the "Rite of Spring" choreography. The performance there by the Joffrey Ballet is very good, but this one is better; the dancing is more polished, the costumes more vibrant, and Gergiev's conducting more dynamic. We all know about the riot the original production produced; it's less known that when "The Rite of Spring" was played in concert in 1915 the audience loved it. Seeing this staging, I wonder if the first audience was offended by the choreography as much as the music ... Wouldn't it be nice if Gergiev and company would follow up with "Petrushka" and "Les Noces"? And wouldn't it be great to have well-filmed productions of the two great French ballets Dyagilev commissioned: Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé" and Debussy's "Jeux"?

This is the production we have hoped for. This is the Millicent Hodson/Kenneth Archer reconstruction that was originally staged by the Robert Joffrey Ballet. And it is all that we have waited for. The production values of the DVD are top quality. (I have watched the Blu-Ray version and the DVD version and found both to be excellent.) The bonus material on the reconstruction of the ballet is almost as moving and powerful as the performance, and was perfectly complemented by Hodson's book, "Nijinsky's Crime Against Grace". This dance, 'Le Sacre du Printemps', changed all dance that came after it, and changed all cultural thought about dance. If you have ever moved to a tune on an ipod, 'The Rite of Spring' is the reason why. This performance, on this DVD, says it all. This is it.

Prepare yourself for the most frustrating viewing experience! Right from the start the camera seemingly deliberately cuts the feet of dancers; then it pans in and out, moves as a drunkard, and finally, as not being able to entertain itself with the performance, it starts filming it from the top!

WHO was behind the camera? It feels as "they" had absolutely no appreciation of what they are filming; no understanding of ballet as an art form; no conception of the fact that it speaks with a body, not a face and not with one body part shot close-up style. What makes it especially ruinous here, in "Le Sacre du printemps", that as the choreographer herself speaks in Bonus section, there are NO prima ballerina or center characters; EACH dancer dances his own part and each person on stage is equally important. Well, was that known to the cameraman? Why was a decent performance allowed to be so crudely decimated by the ignorant and careless?

Apart from the hideous camera work, there are other things that are not perfect. Although the dancers in this "Firebird" are beautiful, their dancing is average; again, the atrocious close-ups of the camera do not help appreciating their skill and choreography. The orchestra sounds somewhat dull; Georgiev looks unkempt and unclean. Watching and listening to this, I suddenly asked myself - how is it that we see only Georgiev from Kirov? Don't they have other conductors, young talents, etc.? Maybe it is time for some shake-up there, so poorly was the whole Firebird done. There are a few other Firebirds on DVD, done with exactly the same mis-en-scene and designs by Goncharova which could be much highly recommended - I personally like very much the one done by The Royal Ballet of Covent Garden with Leanne Benjamin in the title role; there you can truly see and hear The Firebird instead of this tepid Swamp Lake.

Next on this DVD is "Le Sacre du Printemps" ballet which is not as readily available as a ballet, although there are plenty of recordings. It is exactly due to the rarity of Le Sacre on DVD that this camera work comes across as criminal, because in this ballet the DVD producers really ruined the show which otherwise seems to be pretty good, or at least valuable from the historic standpoint.

I would truly love to see better Nicolai Rerikh (Nicolas Roerich) decorations; it is so precious to see as it was seen by Parisian audience roughly 100 years ago. And although you get a glimpse of it in this film, the camera moves again in a totally chaotic, insane fashion, depriving the viewer from enjoying the so very well-thought inventive choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky. Yet even with this atrocious camera work, one could still grasp an idea of what a great innovation this whole opus was; the music and choreograhy are so avant-garde, and remain so today! It was also amusing to hear an ovation at the end of Le Sacre - I doubt very much that the contemporary Russian public truly love this music - it is so far from the tradition of Social Realism and all on what Soviet people raised... Also, one feels once more that this Stravinsky's music is really not suited well to being performed as an orchestral piece, as it is most often heard - Le Sacre music was really written for the ballet, and without the visual it is impossible to understand it fully.

Overall, the impression of this DVD is that it was done by some amateur filmmaker who had no understanding or appreciation for what he was filming; it is therefore very frustrating to watch, especially imagining how you could see it with your own eyes there, in the actual theater. Unfortunately, this is another sad example of ignorant making of the ballet film; it shows that opera obviously suffers less from poor filmmaking since it's much less visual, while in ballet it is really the core and the essence - the show. It is irredeemable if it's ruined as in this film.

Yet for Le Sacre I still give it four stars, so my overall rating of this film is 3 stars, simply for the historical and educational significance of "Le Sacre du printemps" part on it.

Stravinsky - The Firebird & Les Noces / Royal BalletReturn of the Firebird: Petrushka/Firebird/Scheherazade

When I saw the restoration of "The Rite of Spring" in the 80s at the Joffrey Ballet in New York, I was astonished at how "right" it seemed. For a ballet considered "lost" for many years, this effort seemed to bring history alive. I had read about the riots on opening night. I could understand the assault of the orchestral dissonance to an audience which apparently had advance knowledge of what they were about to hear: that the music would be daunting to them. Then to be confronted by knock-kneed, expressionless, flat-footed rhythmic dancing was the final insult.

In this DVD, much of the impact is unfortunately mitigated by poor editing, close-ups, and showy Berkeley-esque camera angles (from the ceiling, no less). The dancers seem much more disorganized in their groups because of these issues, although the rehearsal footage doesn't exactly convince me that the ballet masters enforced the rhythmic fidelity upon which Nijinsky would have insisted. There is a lack of tautness that results in a lack of conviction. It is not the indifferent faces of the dances, especially the sacrificial virgin; Nijinsky surely hoped the music would convey the primal emotions of his dancers. Although Gergiev brings some insight to the conducting, he is often self-indulgent. It is also clear that the scenery and costumes are glitzy adaptations of the Roerich originals.

The Joffrey performance, which was filmed for PBS, exists on a (possibly bootlegged) DVD, available on the Net. I don't know whether the DVD is licensed, but I assume not. That performance should be reissued on disc. It does the ballet justice.

We also are subjected to pretentious prattle of Millicent Hodson, the restorer of this ballet. She attributes a kind of metaphysical aspect to Nijinsky's creativity, forgetting completely that the idea for the ballet came to Stravinsky in a dream. Nijinsky was a more simple, emotional creator than an intellectual. He did research, which she totally ignores.

The performance of "The Firebird" is not as accomplished as the Royal Ballet DVD. Leanne Benjamin gets all the humor that Karsavina would have brought to the role. But Ekaterina Kandaurova is astonishing; not just visually stunning, but also full of humor. She has the most beautiful hands I have ever seen on any dancer, including Maya and Margot. The princess, in contrast, played by Marianna Pavlova (hmm...), is as graceful as Jane Krakowski. There is no love in her eyes for the prince. No enchantment. Don't be tempted to purchase the DVD entitled "Return of the Firebird;" the makeup is so heavy, the characters look like hookers. That disc is spoiled by numerous, idiotic close-ups as well.