51 replies to this topic

[leonid]

Lynette H, on Apr 20 2006, 07:55 AM, said:

Paul, I'm rather intrigued by this Makarova / Ashton version of Swan Lake as originally done for ENB. I can't find anything about it on the ENB web site, and the earliest ENB Swan Lake production I recall (and there have been many....) was by Raisa Struchkova complete with soviet-style happy ending, which would have been around in the early 90s I think, before the Deane versions.  When was the version you are referring to here made - would it be the 1980s ? Maybe around the same time as ENB took on Ashton's version of Romeo and Juliet ? just curious......

Jack Carter staged Swan Lake in the mid 1960's for London Festival Ballet(which became ENB)  using the music in the order composed for the 1877 Bolshoi production. Makarova's version was originally staged for ABT. There is a studio performance on video of the ENB in Makarova's production with Peter Schaufuss and Evelyn Hart.

[rg]

makarova's SWAN LAKE is listed as follows in the NYPL dance collection:
Swan lake : Chor: Natalia Makarova after Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, with additional choreography by Frederick Ashton; mus: Peter Tchaikovsky; scen & projections: Günther Schneider-Siemssen; cos: Dietmar Solt; lighting: David Mohr. First perf: Bradford, Eng., Alhambra Theatre, Apr 12, 1988; London Festival Ballet.

it was filmed as follows, the same year it seems:
Natalia Makarova's Swan lake [c1988. 116 min. : sd. color
Co-produced by Danmarks Radio and RM Arts in association with Channel Four and Primedia. Producer/director: Thomas Grimm. Host: Natalia Makarova. Distributed as a videocassette by Public Media Home Vision, a Films Incorporated Company.
Choreography: Natalia Makarova after Frederick Ashton, Lev Ivanov, and Marius Petipa. Music: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. Scenery/costumes/back projections: Günther Schneider-Siemssen. Scenery adapted for television by Ves Harper. Original stage lighting: David Mohr. Television lighting: Jorgen Johannessen and Tim Hunter.
Performed by London Festival Ballet. Cast: Evelyn Hart (guest artist) (Odette/Odile); Peter Schaufuss (Siegfried); Martin James (Benno); Elizabeth Anderton (the queen); Johnny Eliasen (Rothbart); Leanne Benjamin, Christine Camillo, Patrick Armand, and Alessandro Molin ([Act I] pas de quatre); James Supervia (master of ceremonies); Karen Gee and Martin James (Neapolitan dance); Theresa Jarvis, Louise Hynd, Irina Roncaglia, Laura Contardi, Josephine Jewkes, and Marion Van Den Burgh (fiancées); Gee, Jarvis, Susan Hogard, and Jewkes (cygnets); and others. Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Graham Bond.

re: ABT makarova staged LA BAYADERE and Paquita Grand Pas Classique for the co., but no SWAN LAKEs.

[carbro]

nin one, on Nov 12 2006, 04:35 PM, said:

I had a VHS of Makarova and Nagy. I watched it so much that it broke. To this day I cannot find that production on DVD, I think it was ~ '75 at the MET? . . .

Does anyone know this production?

That was actually '76, I believe.  I remember watching a rerun in lower Manhattan amidst the big  July 4, 1976 US Bicentennial celebrations.  The production is David Blair's staging, which is missed by many long-time ABT watchers, self included.

I hope it becomes available as a dvd.

[rg]

for some odd reason(s) the ABT linc.cent. telecasts that were realeasd commercially by 'bel canto'? w/ makarova - SWAN LAKE w/ nagy and GISELLE w/ baryshnikov - were withdrawn early and never picked up by other videocassette or dvd distributors.
both come up at irregular intervals on ebay, tho' who knows if these used cassettes are in good condition.
fyi: the info from nypl dance coll. on the SWAN LAKE:
Swan lake / WNET/13 ; director, Kirk Browning ; producer, John Goberman ; choreography, Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, staged and directed by David Blair ; choreography for peasant dance and goblet dance (Act I), Neapolitan dance and Spanish dance (Act III), and storm scene (Act IV) by David Blair ; music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.U.S. : WNET, 1976.(180 min.) : sd., col.
Telecast by WNET/13, New York on its series Live from Lincoln Center, on June 30, 1976 from the New York State Theater.
Scenery, Oliver Smith ; costumes, Freddy Wittop ; lighting, Jean Rosenthal.
Host: Dick Cavett.
Danced by members of American Ballet Theatre: Natalia Makarova (Odette/Odile), Ivan Nagy (Prince Siegfried), Lucia Chase (Princess-Mother), Enrique Martinez (Wolfgang), Terry Orr (Benno), Marcos Paredes (Von Rothbart), and William Carter (Spanish dance), with Warren Conover, Kristine Elliott, Nanette Glushak, Jolinda Menendez, Hilda Morales, Kirk Peterson, Frank Smith, Marianna Tcherkassky, Clark Tippett, Charles Ward, Rebecca Wright, and artists of the company.
Conductor: Akira Endo.

[richard53dog]

rg, on Nov 13 2006, 02:32 PM, said:

for some odd reason(s) the ABT linc.cent. telecasts that were realeasd commercially by 'bel canto'? w/ makarova - SWAN LAKE w/ nagy and GISELLE w/ baryshnikov - were withdrawn early and never picked up by other videocassette or dvd distributors.
both come up at irregular intervals on ebay, tho' who knows if these used cassettes are in good condition.

Yes, it is odd but just as you note,  my copy of the Swan Lake (as well as the Giselle) shows Bel Canto--Lincoln Center Video. Then in tiny print Paramount Home Video.

I think your comment about the condition of the tapes is apt, I got a new copy of the Swan Lake about two years ago and the color shows sign of deterioration.  It would really be nice to get a nice, remastered release of this and the Giselle.

[nin one]

Quote

for some odd reason(s) the ABT linc.cent. telecasts that were realeasd commercially by 'bel canto'? w/ makarova - SWAN LAKE w/ nagy and GISELLE w/ baryshnikov - were withdrawn early and never picked up by other videocassette or dvd distributors. both come up at irregular intervals on ebay, tho' who knows if these used cassettes are in good condition.

Thank you rq for the info! I think my only recourse is to have my VHS repaired and transfer it onto DVD. Hey, maybe I should make some copies and sell them?

I made a typo re: Makarova's fouettes. Her 32 fouettes was the weakest part of the perfomance for me. But, her transformation to Odile in facial expression alone was perfect. In Act III when Rothbart presents her to Seigfried, Makarova's eyes and her deliberate offering of her hand, was special. She tops my list as the best Odette/Odile. Nagy is unassuming yet partners her well.

[Paul Parish]

Makarova's Odile was shocking, and yet it was shocking like Yelena Karagina in War and Peace (played in the Ferrer movie by Anita Ekberg), whom Tolstoy describes as somehow always suggestively obscene and yet maintaining an atmosphere of complacent propriety at all times in public.

I remember seeing Makarova when she first came to San Francisco -- when she was presented to the queen, she sank into a fantastically deep reverence, with the back leg in arabesque a terre, and when she came back up she looked the queen in the eye and gave her a tiny pelvic thrust -- BUMP! -- very slight, unmisunderstandable, brazen-faced. The queen looked totally stunned for a split second and then became bland and complacent again as if it had not happened.