smitty1931

During the LP era I owned a CD of the music to the ballet The Bronze Horseman. It was never reissued on CD. Has anyone seen this ballet? If so, when and where? The bronze horseman is a statue in St Petersberg of Peter the Great pointing to the West. I saw this statue while in St Petersberg and it is very impressive!

Has anyone seen this 2008 DVD? Please review it, as it is pretty pricey and I don't want to waste money. Thanks.

I recently purchased this DVD and was pleased at the quality of the performance. The music is Tchaikovskyesque. The dancers are good, the production first class and the photography excellent. I recommend it to all ballet fans. DG 00440 073 4416

In another thread I asked if anyone had seen this ballet with Nijinskys original choreography. In researching I found the book LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS by Shelley Berg/1988 which describes a number of versions including the Nijinsky. I recommend it to those interested in this masterpiece. Your local library can get it for you.

Oh well, I wasn't going to comment because I haven't watched this since I got through it the first time about 5 years ago. And could barely get through it. Also never tried to watch it a second time. But I see I'm not alone, so.... It's more or less a vehicle for Plisteskaya, as I recall she emotes throughout and changes costumes constantly. I do remembering that her vivid personal charisma comes through and her performance more or less reflects the level of her technique of the times that I did get to see her live in the early/mid 70s. so it was somewhat of a momento for me. I have this on a Russian bootleg VHS and the quality is poor; I can't estimate how much is due to the original and how much to the shoddy copy . If you are a Plisetskaya fan, this may be for you. I thank both of you for your reply. I believe I will pass on this DVD. Smitty

Has anyone out there seen the DVD of this ballet? Would you recommend its purchase to a ballet Fan? I noticed it is dated 1976, what is the quality of the photography? Thank you for your opinion.

A marvelous story, one that I had not heard before. I had the privilege to see Stravinsky conduct his opera Nightingale in Washington, D.C. When he came out on two crutches the entire audience stood in silent homage until he reached the podium and then broke out in cheers and applause. An unforgettable experience! Smitty

Thank you for your excellent post. I will try to obtain the Shelly Berg book. Smitty

Has anyone out there seen a ballet company do this ballet to Nijinsky's choreography? Just what made the audience at the first performance so upset? Monteux was the conductor, did he ever make any comments about that performance? Is there a DVD that does justice to the original concept?

Thank you for backing up my judgment. I presume you own the POB PAQUITA with choreography by Lacotte and the delightful version of COPPELIA by the Australian Ballet. I thought the Bolshoi version of RAYMONDA was well danced. What a pity that so many fine ballets remain unrecorded. Smitty

There's one here : http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...amp;mode=linear and here : http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20668 and here : http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20971 I wish I was as proficient at ballet dancing as at search engines... Thank you for the references. I looked them up and found them very interesting. Did you see the production when it played New York in 08? Smitty

I recently purchased this DVD BEL AIR BAC201 and was delighted with this seldom seen ballet. The production is lavish, the dancers first class (Zakharova and Filin) and the photography is excellent. I believe any ballet fan will enjoy this outstanding DVD.

True, but Ansanelli is a dancer. (If the makers of "Isadora" back in the Sixties had cast Lynn Seymour as in the title role, she wouldn't have been an exact physical match, but in spirit and style she would have been as close to Isadora as anyone could have gotten.) Duff also strikes me as a little young for the movie's time frame described in the article - she will be playing the middle aged Fonteyn, not the young dancer. So in the best of all possible worlds a suitable mature ballerina would be cast in the role, although no one springs to mind offhand. It may be, of course, that the filmmakers don't intend on showing much if any dancing, in which case the project would indeed be worth very little.... Thanks for commenting, everyone! Keep posting. (Edited to note that my comment was in response to Old Fashioned's post and not Helene's, which I didn't see before posting, and so I've altered this post slightly to reflect that.) Has anyone out there seen the DVD "MARGOT"? It is a complete coverage of her life and dancing thus no need for a movie, i.e a phony portrait.

I wonder if any one out there has seen a ballet set to Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances? If so, when, where and who did it? The music is so beautiful and danceable I am surprised some noted choreographer has not picked it up.

As a fan of Fonteyn you owe it to yourself to see the DVD titled MARGOT. Your library can probably get a copy for you. Absolutely fascinating!