Also available on DVD

A Blu-ray video of a stunning 2014 performance choreographed by Belgian modern great Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, performed by members of the Paris Opera Ballet and set to Music for Eighteen Musicians, Steve Reich's major score composed in 1976. In tandem with the score rendered here by Ensemble Ictus and the Synergy Vocals ensemble, ‘Rain’ draws its spatial polyphony which manifests on the stage in a glorious pastiche of dancers and rhythm. Created by De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas in 2001, “Rain” entered the Paris Opera Ballet's repertoire ten years later and reinforces her key role not just in the world of modern dance but in the worlds of contemporary art.

Also available on Blu-ray

Joby Talbot
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

Ballet in 2 Acts

Alice – Lauren Cuthbertson
Jack / Knave of Hearts – Sergei Polunin
Lewis Carroll / White Rabbit – Edward Watson
Mother / Queen of Hearts – Zenaida Yanowsky
Father / King of Hearts – Christopher Saunders
Magician / Mad Hatter – Steven McRae
Duchess – Simon Russell Beale

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth, conductor
Christopher Wheeldon, choreography

Bob Crowley, designs
Nicholas Wright, scenario
Natasha Katz, lighting design

Recorded live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 9 March 2011.

Bonus:
- Cast Gallery
- Documentary – Being Alice

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 120 mins (ballet) + 30 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

R E V I E W:

A stimulating production.

It is a brave company that is prepared to take such a surrealist novel and turn it into a stage show. Where film can provide the visual trickery necessary to give visual magic, theatre machinery is cumbersome and pedantic in comparison. Yet the development of technical resources and video projection can help. With ballet, a large part of the stage must be kept free of obstructions to allow ballet routines to progress unimpeded.
To then faithfully transfer to a video medium without high level on-line visual trickery may not ideally help the viewer. So how then has Covent Garden fared in bringing about a stimulating production?

Very well, in fact. The prologue where Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) is taking photographs of the family group works excellently. It is set in a realistic deanery garden. Bob Crowley’s backdrop painting in faded Victorian hues is in keeping. In this opening scene we are introduced to the personalities that later appear as stereotypes in the fantasy world Alice uncovers. The only odd thing in a private deanery garden is having a nurse wheel a perambulator across the stage as if in a busy street.

Some of the settings contain more subtlety than might at first sight be noticed. Monotone backdrops, the Cheshire Cat and a paper boat are styled on the engravings found in Carroll’s first edition book. As the ballet progresses the settings become more flamboyant and graphically modern.

Particularly stunning is the Playing Cards scene. Choreography and costumes strike just the right note. A clever routine with a segmented Cheshire Cat allows believable animation.

As one might expect, the dancing is up to the exacting standards of the corps with a Covent Garden reputation. The problem of having Alice change size was well contrived and Lauren Cuthbertson’s acting is excellent. The character of the White Rabbit is extremely officious throughout I noticed, yet pales before the bombastic pomp of the Queen of Hearts (Zenaida Yanowsky).

The orchestra plays well under the secure direction of Barry Wordsworth, a conductor not seen enough of nowadays. Talbot’s music has facets of talent and although classical harmony is mainly maintained, it is heavy, strongly percussive and is often reminiscent of the fight scene of West Side Story. One could hardly call the music melodious which is a pity as it misses out in appealing to the younger generation for whom the story is intended. I find the scoring unnecessarily heavy and is an ill fit with the elegance of classical ballet choreography.

The DVD is divided into play chapters, and contains a gallery photographs of the key dancers. It has the bonus of a well compiled and informative BBC documentary ‘Being Alice’. In it we see the planning, realisation and execution of the staging through the eyes of the principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson. Subtitles are provided in English, French, German and Spanish. In-depth background production notes with synopsis by David Nice are written in English, French and German.

-- Raymond J Walker, MusicWeb International

TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker • Pavel Klinichev, cond; Nina Kaptsova ( Marie ); Artem Ovcharenko ( Nutcracker Prince ); Denis Savin ( Drosselmeyer ); et al.; Bolshoi Ballet; Bolshoi Th O & Children’s Ch • BELAIR BAC 073 (DVD: 103:00); BAC 473 (Blu-ray: 103:00) Live: Moscow 12/2010


"The Bolshoi Ballet is celebrating the 85th birthday of choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, a subject of veneration in his homeland even though his talent outside Russia has always been questioned. In addition to such original works as Spartacus and Ivan the Terrible , Grigorovich has also attacked several 19th-century classics with limited success, of which his Nutcracker is an example. It is difficult to know how much of Petipa and Ivanov’s choreography survives, as few versions are comparable, though one might assume that Balanchine comes close in many respects as do the versions that descend from Sergeyev’s notation. For some reason each of the character dances in the second act here is given to a couple, rather than varying between soloist, couple, or trio or larger group. The final pas de deux is—as usual in Soviet versions—disfigured by the use of a male corps that separates the dancers while hoisting them aloft for the music’s climax so that they are separated rather than joined in communion.


Within this framework, Nina Kaptsova and Artem Ovcharenko stand out for their enthusiasm and brilliance, while Denis Savin as Drosselmeyer is given far more dance movement than in other versions of the ballet. Pavel Klinichev and the Bolshoi Orchestra are entirely at home in this music, glowing throughout."

FANFARE: Joel Kasow

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
CLASSIC BALLETS
(3-DVD Box Set)

Swan Lake

Odette / Odille – Marianela Nuñez
Prince Siegfried – Thiago Soares
The Princess, Siegfried’s mother – Elizabeth McGorian
An Evil Spirit / Von Rothbart – Christopher Saunders
The Tutor – Alastair Marriott
Benno – David Pickering

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Valeriy Ovsyanikov, conductor

Anthony Dowell, stage director
Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, choreographers

Recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 16 and 24 March 2009

Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis
- Cast gallery
- Interview with Anthony Dowell
- Four Swan Queens - Exclusive 30-minute conversation on the demands of dancing the role of the Swan Queen with former Prima Ballerinas
- Dame Beryl Grey, Dame Monica Mason, Lesley Collier and current principal Marianela Nuñez

The Nutcracker

The Sugar Plum Fairy – Miyako Yoshida
Nephew / Nutcracker – Ricardo Cervera / Steven McRae
The Prince – Steven McRae
Drosselmeyer – Gary Avis

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Koen Kessels, conductor

Peter Wright, choreographer and director (after Lev Ivanov)

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, November and December 2009

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Rehearsing at White Lodge
- Peter Wright tells the story of The Nutcracker

The Sleeping Beauty

Princess Aurora – Alina Cojocaru
Prince Florimund – Federico Bonelli
King Florestan XXIV – Christopher Saunders
His Queen – Elizabeth McGorian
Cattalabutte – Alastair Marriott
Carabosse – Genesia Rosato
Lilac Fairy – Marianela Nuñez

Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House Orchestra
Valeriy Ovsyanikov, conductor

Marius Petipa, choreographer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 5 December 2006

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Illustrated synopsis

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Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles (bonus): French, German, Spanish (Nutcracker) + Italian (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty)
Running time: 7 hours 37 mins
No. of DVDs: 3

Also available on Blu-ray

This magnificent Royal Ballet production of Swan Lake is an unforgettable experience. Anthony Dowell’s interpretation of Petipa and Ivanov’s 1895 St Petersburg version set a standard and style that made it a ‘yardstick for others’ (New York Times). Wonderful choreography for the entire company includes the coveted double role of the gentle and vulnerable swan queen Odette and her predatory alter-ego, the black swan Odile. It is a challenge relished by principal ballerinas, and is danced here in a spell-binding performance by Natalia Osipova, partnered by Matthew Golding as a powerful and empathetic Prince Siegfried. Tchaikovsky’s glorious score shines, given the full force of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Boris Gruzin, and Yolanda Sonnabend’s detailed, Fabergé-inspired designs evoke the atmosphere of Imperial Russia in the era of the ballet's creation.

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
SWAN LAKE

Odette / Odile - Natalia Osipova
Prince Siegfried - Matthew Golding
Von Rothbart - Gary Avis
The Princess - Elizabeth McGorian
The Tutor - Alastair Marriott
Benno - Valeri Hristov

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden
Boris Gruzin, conductor

Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, choreographers
Yolanda Sonnabend, set and costume designer
Mark Henderson, lighting designer

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, March 2015

Bonus:
- Introduction with Natalia Osipova and Matthew Golding
- Anthony Dowell in conversation with Darcey Bussell
- Coaching Swan Lake
- Cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 133 mins (ballet) + 18 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

In this remarkable film, Denis Sneguirev invites US to witness the rescue and revival of Moscow's legendary Bolshoi Theatre. In a mix of images, animation, documentary footage and interviews, he recounts the history of the Bolshoi from it's origins to the present day. Hitherto unknown archival material takes viewers back to a time when stars like Ulanova, Maximova, Plisetkaya, Vasiliev or Grigorovich graced the Bolshoi stage. We watch the teams of architects, engineers and construction workers laboring day and night to rebuild the theatre in the course of a colossal venture Russia's media dubbed the 'construction project of the century'.

Classical Music