Natalia Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 After a long drought of commercial DVDs featuring the Kirov-Mariinsky Ballet, it appears as if an avalanche of programs may be headed our way? * Don Q with Novikova/Sarafanov - this is pretty definite; it is being filmed next week (April 6 performance) * Jewels - also being filmed next week, during the April 5 & 7 performances at the Mariinsky, as part of a "Balanchine in Russia" TV special/documentary. I am not sure if the eventual DVD will consist only of the documentary with ballet snippets, or if the full ballets will be released. Casts for those two perfs are in the Mariinsky website...slightly different for each perf but the word on the street is that the casting to be captured is thus: Emeralds - Ayupova/Kolb; Pavlenko/Shklyarov; no word on pas de trois soloists Rubies - Novikova/Sarafanov with Dumchenko as 'tall girl' (although right now playbill shows Vishneva/Fadeev) Diamonds - Lopatkina/Zelensky * Lacotte "Ondine" with Vishneva/Kolb/Serebriakova - The promise of the DVD-filming was a main reason for the production going forward as it did. This will most likely happen in July, at the time of the next presentation of the ballet at the Mariinsky. Lacotte is returning to StP to coach Vishneva prior to her debut. * Chemyakin Nutcracker with Obraztsova/Sarafanov - this was to have been filmed in Paris last November, although the latest word is that the release is on hold * Finally - the mysterious "Swan Lake" conducted by Gergiev, mentioned elsewhere on this site. That one is total 'news' to me. Maybe it will be a commercial release of the five-year-old Gumerova/Kolb telecast from Tokyo??? I don't think that that one has been released in North America yet. Link to comment
Alexandra Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Thank you, Natalia. While you're over there, could you ask them for a nice "Raymonda," please? Link to comment
chrisk217 Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Natalia, is there any possibility that the restored Sleeping Beauty will be filmed? Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 I've heard nothing about that, chris. Nyet. One would think that the new-old 'Beauty' would be at the top of their DVD-projects list. There must be some legal hurdles there, perhaps in the contract with the stagers or with Harvard Library? That is just my gut feeling & not based on any fact or hearsay. Length should be no problem, as several Russian opera DVDs produced by the Kirov are two-disk sets. Link to comment
Mashinka Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I would like to see Anton Korsakov cast in the Emeralds pas de trois. Link to comment
rg Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 hear! hear! to filming korsakov in the emeralds Pd3 and just about anything else. Link to comment
Marc Haegeman Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thank you for the information, Natalia. Very exciting indeed. I gather the Jewels casts you are giving are liable to change...? Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thank you for the information, Natalia. Very exciting indeed. I gather the Jewels casts you are giving are liable to change...? Of course. It wouldn't be the Kirov otherwise! It may very well be Korsakov in the Emeralds pas de trois with Selina and Serebriakova, if the usual casting prevails. I haven't seen Korsakov cast in anything recently, though, which makes me wonder if he might be under the weather or guesting somewhere else? I don't remember seeing him in the recent festival, for example. Edited to add: I see that Korsakov is scheduled to dance in Don Q this Sunday, opposite Osmolkina. However, he never danced any of his announced roles during the Festival (such as Swan Lake pas de trois), so his name appearing in the playbill doesn't mean that he will really dance. I sincerely hope that he does dance, though. Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Update on the Rubies cast that is to be filmed: The Mariinsky website has removed Vishneva's name from Rubies (as we knew would happen)...but her substitute will be Irina Golub -- not Olesya Novikova. Too, I'm happy to report that Andrian Fadeev will remain as the male lead in Rubies. He has not been replaced by Sarafanov (as a few had suspected would happen). Of course, we can't be certain about any of this until the curtain goes up and we see who is onstage. Link to comment
mohnurka Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 As for filming the Sleeping Beauty reconstruction -- there is a little bit of it on the film "Sacred Stage," with Ayupova and Korsakov. There are snippets of prologue, act I, and part of act II. Not too much, but still nice for those of us who have not seen it before! Link to comment
Natalia Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 mohnurka - Actually, it's only the Nereid Scene of ActII, minus the coda, that appears in the extras of the 'Sacred State' DVD. Yet, like you say, it's better than nothing. If that entire performance was filmed -- and I believe that it was, in May 2003...one of Ayupova's last appearances at the MT in a full-length work -- then it must be tucked away somewhere. Maybe we can begin a petition or letter-writting campaign to the producers of the 'Sacred Stage' DVD that we'd love to buy a DVD of the complete performance? Link to comment
canbelto Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I'm disappointed Vishneva won't be performing Rubies. I saw her in this when she came to NY and she was fantastic. However, I can't wait for Lopatkina's Diamonds. Link to comment
Solor Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 The Mariinksy is going to be filming some repertory? so when exactly are these films supposed to be coming out? What label is releasing them? What of the reconstructed Bayadere and Beauty? Thanks for the info Natalia. By the way, where di you here this? Link to comment
Natalia Posted April 3, 2006 Author Share Posted April 3, 2006 Today's issue of the weekly magazine, Gorod (or "City"), includes the following article by Irina Gubskaya, about the sudden sprinkling of Kirov DVD projects. http://www.gorod-spb.ru/story.php?st=7136 While she concentrates on 'Jewels,' she also confirms 'Ondine,' 'Swan Lake' and 'Don Quixote.' Quotable quote: "Up to now, the theater has not wanted to immortalize its productions on film. Why this situation? The logic is simple: If the spectator purchases the recording and can see the production in his house, then he won't go to the theatre...." Luckily for us, that logic no longer seems to prevail, as "...the management realized that it is losing out on another font of revenue." Link to comment
art076 Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Thanks Natalia- Since the article is in Russian, can you give us a few more details from it, if they are mentioned? Such as: casting for Swan Lake, confirmation of casting for Ondine and Don Q, planned release dates and whether we'll get all of Jewels, or just pieces of it spread out between the documentary you mentioned? (it seems unlikely that we'd get a full Jewels from the Kirov since we already getting a full Jewels from the Paris Opera Ballet)... Thanks! Link to comment
Helene Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 One of the resources we have at our disposal is Babelfish. If the URL translation doesn't work, cutting and pasting the text into the program will work, like for this article. According to the Babelfish translation, neither the casting for the other ballets nor the release dates was listed in the article, which focuses on the reasoning that Natalia translated in her post. I couldn't tell whether it was for the full Jewels, though. Link to comment
drb Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Thank you, thank you! It is great to see Lopatkina confirmed for Jewels. Link to comment
Solor Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 "Up to now, the theater has not wanted to immortalize its productions on film. Why this situation? The logic is simple: If the spectator purchases the recording and can see the production in his house, then he won't go to the theatre...." Luckily for us, that logic no longer seems to prevail, as "...the management realized that it is losing out on another font of revenue." If that was once the Mariinksy's logic concerning filming productions, then that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. On the contrary, it will get people to want to see the ballet in Petersburg....and even better, inspire a new generation, as not everyone by a long shot can just hop on a plane whenever they please and go to the Mariinksy. I myself have never set foot in the Mariinksy, or Russia for that matter, but it's the one thing I want to do before I die, and had I never seen that wonderful ballet company on video I would never have known of them! Had the Mariinksy/Kirov never filmed any of thier dancers, I would never have become a dancer myself! I was 8 years old when I saw Terekhova and Rouzimitov dance the "Le Corsaire" Pas de Deux in "Magic of the Kirov", which was shown on TV, I went straight to my mother and father, and much to thier shock, I said - "I WANT TO TAKE BALLET CLASS!" There were times when I was kid that I got a new video of the Kirov that I had not yet seen (even though they had been out for a long while, but I had yet to see any of them!), and I remember how excited I was to pop that tape in the VCR. I remember the first time I ever saw "La Bayadere", it was on a tape I got from the library of the 1977 film of the Kirov's production w/ Komleva and Terekhova......also, the first time I saw "Kirov Ballet in London", my mom got me the video as a gift. I had never before seen "Le Jardin Anime" the "Pas des Odalisques" or "La Esmeralda" Pas de Six.....I so entranced, especially after watching Margerita Kulik's very slowed down variation in the Shade's scene on that film, or Elena Evteyeva's Esmeralda.....I dont think I'll ever see a Ballerina dance that first Shade's variation and thrill me as much as Kulik did when I first saw that film, with her effortless triple pirouetteS en pointe w/ arms in 5th. Link to comment
drb Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Wonderful post, Solor! If only ABT, NYCB, PNB, SFB,.... could read posts like this and get it. Link to comment
Joseph Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 very much agreed solor :cool2: Link to comment
Natalia Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 I'll 'third' that eloquent post, Solor! No further casting details were given about the ballets. I translated all significant news in the article, not that there was very much. The best was the simple fact that four DVD projects were confirmed -- all but the Chemyakin 'Nutcracker,' which seems to be on perpetual hold. Sadly, there is no mention whatsoever of a possible filming of either the 'Sleeping Beauty 1890' or the 'Bayadere 1900' stagings by Vikharev. To be honest, I would rather see those two committed to film than yet another 'Don Q' or 'Swan Lake,' both of which exist on commercial film with fine Kirov casts of the late 1980s. Yet another new 'Jewels' video/DVD in 2005/06 (after the POB one)? OK - I can see the logic so that we get more of Ayupova and Lopatkina on film...but two 'Jewels' commercial DVDs within months of one another, in the highly-selective world of ballet-DVD marketing? Weird. 'Ondine' with Vishneva/Kolb would be a delightful novelty, yet it's amazing that the 'Ondine' DVD will be filmed after only TWO live performances & minimal 'market knowledge'...yet the Vikharev reconstructions have already been performed live all over the world AND there is a huge market-clamoring for them. Odd - odd - odd situation. Link to comment
canbelto Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Natalia, Have you heard any more information about the mysterious "Gergiev Swan Lake?" If there's a Kirov production that should also be filmed, it should be their Giselle. One film survives with Mezentseva, but now there's Vishneva and a whole bunch of young ballerinas that would be beautiful. Link to comment
Natalia Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 Natalia,Have you heard any more information about the mysterious "Gergiev Swan Lake?" No, canbelto. Only that a 'Swan Lake' is among their upcoming DVD projects. No casting - no nothing. I can't imagine that Odette-Odile would be anybody BUT Lopatkina, although Vishneva has just recently made her mark in the ballet. Lopatkina is considered the 'swan' of her generation & to cast any Kirov ballerina but her in the role would be sacrilege, plain & simple. If Lopatkina is Odette-Odile, then Siegfried will be one of her usual tall partners -- Shishov or Korsuntsev (who may still be out, nursing an old injury). Kuznetsov will most likely be Von Rothbart. Andrei Ivanov will surely be the jester. Most-likely Pas de Trois will consist of Korsakov/Golub/Kasenkova. So my bets are on: Lopatkina/Shishov/Kuznetsov to lead any upcoming filming of 'Swan Lake.' Link to comment
Natalia Posted April 6, 2006 Author Share Posted April 6, 2006 re. April 5th Jewels filming-day: From my reading of Russian-language fora, the following dancers definitely performed &, thus, were filmed: EMERALDS Zhanna Ayupova (yes! she is back & nearly everyone raved about how good she was!) Daria Sukhorukova Xenia Ostreikovskaya Anton Korsakov (several of you were hoping for him...well, he danced it & was commended for hs streamlined physique) Dmitri Semionov RUBIES Irina Golub Andrian Fadeev Sofia Gumerova (instead of the announced Dumchenko) DIAMONDS Uliana Lopatkina Igor Zelensky The same cast will perform & be filmed tomorrow. Hopefully, an ensuing DVD will eventually make its way to our shops & amazon.com! Link to comment
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