Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / Mezentseva, Zaklinsky, Kirov Ballet

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

 

 

First class dancers, costumes and settings from the Kirov Company. Prima Ballerina Galina Mezentseva is very good in showing the contrast of the characters in the dual role Odile/Odette. I rather recommend "Giselle" from the same couple in which she excells in the dramatic interpretation of the role. She gives the best Giselle performance (both dramatically and technically) and one can even see the tears in her eyes in the Mad Scene. (I don't know whether this video is available from amazon.com).

On a purely technical note, the DVD is in Dolby Stereo, not Dolby 5.1 so the sound was not all it could be. Also the video was grainy, not sharp as to be expected for a DVD. I am guessing this is just a transfer of the VHS version without any remastering to take advantage of DVD's features.

I have since raised the score a bit on this DVD although I still can't recommend it except for the curious. So, notwithstanding the bump-ups on some of the categories below. I have not disturbed the headline to this review. I have given scores 1.0 to 10.00, the latter corresponding to perfection.

DVD Video: 3.0 - dull transfer of shabby 1986 Soviet Production is blurry, grainy, and shoddily directed.

DVD Audio: 2.0 - has a very annoying tape hiss that can be very distracting during the quieter numbers.

Production: 0.00 - Dull and way dated. Probably unchanged since the first production. Ideologically this makes sense I guess because Swan Lake was created for this company, now calling itself the Kirov. Unfortunately, the choreography is rote and too willing to cling to orthodoxy. This amounts to something entirely uninteresting to look at. The worst thing about it is that it seems there was no effort to justify this recorded performance, which is decidedly contrary to just about every other Swan Lake available on DVD. Examples include the over-prominence of mime and the relative aimlessness of the principle male dancer.

Galina Mezentseva (Odette/Odile): 8.5 - I have revised my opinion on Ms. Mezentseva's dancing. On further viewings, I found her technique to be precise and moving. Still, it's hard to believe in her performance. She just doesn't seem to be into it, a situation that I believe is consistent to the cold war image of what Russian life was like - ideological and intensely dull (an oxymoron but accurate).

Konstantin Zaklinsky (Prince Siegfried): 4.5 - KZ was probably a pretty good dancer in 1986: good looking, nice long legs;the problem is, he doesn't get to do anything with them (he has one bit in Act III where he gets to do a once-around with grand jettes (impressive). That's basically the only moment he's allowed to shine. But he's a decent partner. He seemed mostly bored.

Corps: 8.0. - Pretty solid in a late soviet-era sort of way. Lots of technique. Little joy.

Orchestra: 3.0 - The violin soloist in the Act II pas de deux is quite moving. Best I've ever heard on this music. Ditto some of the wind soloists. The rest of the orchestra is little more than passable.

DVD content - 0.00. Herein lies the single most annoying thing: This package contains ZERO information (in English), on the case, the insert, or on the DVD itself, apart from the names of the two principles. No mention is made of what the name of the orchestra is, who conducts, what year the production was made. Some of this information is available in the end-credits, but it's in Russian, so... I gathered from my very humble ability to sound out Russian characters that the Academy Orchestra of the Kirov Opera/Ballet was conducted by Yevgeny something-or-other.

There is really no excuse for this DVD with the possible exception of Mezentseva who has great technique but doesn't connect very smoothly with the music.

The Kirov Ballet, along with the Paris Ballet, is often considered to be the "gold standard" of ballet companies. The corps are always meticulous and impeccable, and most of all the Kirov training school, the Vaganova Academy, has produced an enormously influential style of dancing. When you see Russian ballerinas like Altynai Asylmuratova or Russian-trained dancers like Alina Cojacaru, you can see the Vaganova imprint. An emphasis on an arched back, expressive arms and hands, and long, even extreme limb extensions with super flexibility. It's a beautiful style of dancing.
So you'd expect the Kirov video of Swan Lake to be out of this world, right? Unfortunately, the video is somewhat of a disappointment. For starters, the "happy" ending is tacked on and jars with Tchaikovsky's music, which clearly creates a mood of love transcending into the otherworld. Most Swan Lake productions end with Odette and Siegfried reuniting in the otherworld. The Kirov's does not, and i think the ballet loses a lot of its power. Another thing that bugged me about the Kirov production was that in Act II, there is no mime from Odette.
The Odette/Odile is another disappointment. Mesentseva's enormous reputation baffles me. To me, she's neither expressive, nor beautiful, nor touching in the dual role of Odette/Odile. She's chilly throughout, and thus the White Swan Adagio loses much of its power. For me, an Odette has to show some sense of joy and rapture. She can't be purely an ice queen. On a technical level, Mesentseva also disappoints. She's a strangely sluggish dancer -- very correct in her posture and positions, but her leaps, turns, and fouettes all lack excitement. I guess she's a very "classical" dancer in that you'll never see sloppy form from her, but I like to see an Odette/Odile with more bravura. In Act 3, particularly, Mesentseva's Black Swan Odile fails to convey much excitement. She churns out the requisite 32 fouettes but her lugubrious style made even this bravura moment strangely phlegmatic. This is not Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Odette/Odile is a famously high-wire ballerina role. It's interesting to contrast her performance to Natalia Makarova's, who was also trained at the Kirov school but of course defected to the west. Mezentseva might be technically the stronger dancer, although both are very disciplined classical dancers with excellent form and the Vaganova imprint. Makarova is more flexible, Mezentseva might be a stronger turner. But while Mezentseva's Odette/Odile feels like an icy performance, Makarova lives the role. One particularly beautiful moment in Swan Lake is just before the White Swan Adagio. Odette sits on the floor, her "wings" folded like a bird. Siegfried touches her, and the wings unfold, and they start dancing. This moment goes for naught with Mezentseva, but with Makarova Siegfried's touch is like a magic spell from which she awakens. Her wings slowly unfold, and if there's a more romantic moment in ballet I can't think of it. (In a recent Swan Lake that I saw, the exquisite Irina Dvorovenko slowly unfolds her wings and looks warily at the Siegfried. Beautiful.)
Konstantin Zaklinsky is a fine, sensitive Siegfried. It's funny how the Western world thinks of the more flamboyant dancers like Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov as being "Russian." Zaklinsky is not like that -- hes a very classical partner, with the idea that "ballet is woman," to quote George Balanchine.
The Kirov corps IS very fine. Act II (the White Swan act) with Ivanov's choreography is considered the ultimate sacred cow of ballet choreography, and a famous test of a company's corps. It is refreshing to see Cygnets who dont almost trip over each other, or white swans whose legs are all at the same level when they arabesque. Another thing I like about the Kirov production is that unlike some productions Act 4 is not shortened very much.
Still, overall I found this video very disappointing.

What a disappointment! I thought I got a pirated DVD. It's even worse.

The camera angle was too high, often cutting the toes/feet of the dancers and leaving a huge empty room above the dancers. The swans dancing/standing on both sides were often partially cut off the screen.

I had recorded another Kirov version (laser disk or LD, not a live performance, by different principals) before. It was much better. Too bad it's not available on DVD.

Miss Mezentseva is the ultimate russian balleria. She conveys such fragility in her presence, such humanity in her movements that you are sure that what you are seeing trancends the riguers of training and style. But rather you are face to face with her soul which she reveals with such candour and frankness. Miss Mezentseva is regal yet is longing for her princes love. She is fragil yet powerfull. It is in these paradoxes of charachter that we identify ourselves. She is not a bird inlove with a prince. She is his equal! A princess inlove. One human being rescuing another and shering a common love. All this is what she brings to you and more. The beauty of the russian school, almost too beautiful, and the integrity and humility of the human spirit which has found love. Miss Mezentseva's dances from the edge of her fingertips when she joins the prince in the famous pas de deux to her points. She is a dancer of such poise and purity, she is so completely devoid of mannerism that one knows that this is the russian school at it's most sublime never seen before or since!

The review by Aleta M. Daley (dated Jan. 9, 2003) is misplaced.
It is for a different version of Kirov's Swan Lake.

I have seen Mezentseva and Zaklinsky dancing in Giselle. Mezentseva is my favorite Giselle. Their Swan Lake is excellent. This is probably the best Swan Lake on DVD. I like this one better than Nureyev's. This DVD is a must for every ballet fan. I can't wait to see their Giselle on DVD.

Over the past 40 years, I have seen many live and several taped versions of "Swan Lake". The Kirov production with Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky is magnificent. This is ballet at its consummate best. Having also studied ballet, and danced on point, I can appreciate especially the flawless, expressive and consistently demanding choreography. Makhalina may not convey the emotional depth in the same way as a Fonteyn or a Makarova, but her every movement conveys the sensibility of an Odette and just as effectively an Odile. Ballet is clearly her passion.

I believe that this splendid production on video owes much to its director Colin Nears. With so many elements at work, he has quite successfully maintained a balance that enables us the viewers to enjoy the ballet as if it were a live performance and we were in the orchestra.

I was very pleased with the Kirov Ballet's Swan Lake...I especially liked the 4th Act with the beautiful harp music and both white and black swans used in the choreography! Fabulous! This is segment of the 4th Act is particularly difficult music to find and I would like to know if a CD is available of this entire version? There are music excerpts here that are not found in other Swan Lake ballets.
I was most impressed by the corps de ballet and their precision and strength.
An excellent DVD to add to any collection!