140 replies to this topic

[Kyeong]

I feel sorry for posting reviews not directly related to the topic. It will be the last.

Ambonnay, on 12 July 2010 - 12:57 PM, said:

I picked Mouton because it can at times show a little spicier on the palate than Latour, and because it's visually an arresting bottle, with the art on the label, depending on the artist for the particular year in question.  Mouton is captivating-looking at first glance (not that that is the sole source of its appeal).

http://www.theartist....com/index.html

Just based on the art (and not the quality of the vintage), some Mouton possibilities:
http://www.theartist...outon/1969.html (Miro)
http://www.theartist...outon/1999.html (R Savignac)

Hallberg:

http://www.thewinedo...hautbrion.shtml
(picutre of label midway through)

Gomes might be in a more jazzed up "bravado"-type package, but the wine inside an Haut-Brion bottle (for those who care to carefully drink it) is more beautiful, elegant, classical and just better    Haut-Brion doesn't seduce by being in-your-face or being packaged with bold artwork on the exterior; it's about the beauty inside the bottle and quiet savoring of the terroir of Pessac-Leognan, like Hallberg is about the beauty of classical ballet.

Thanks for the link. I was looking for a site like this, as I've thought a performance review combined with a matched wine is great.  

The tasting note for Latour, the wine which I think matches Gomes really well, says exactly what I felt and wanted to say about him: "The aromas here are magnificently perfumed and lifted, but with a very dense and tightly-creamed layer of dark berry fruits tinged with a sweet exoticism. What a palate too, broad and svelte, creamy seamlessness, but underneath this upper layer a ripe, dense, velvety but mouth-coating layer of prodigious tannins. The fruit copes admirably with them, and the acidity plays its part, providing a gentle balance rather than a vigorous tingle...How can this be so harmonious, so balanced, and yet so structured and built up? The tannins persist in the mouth for minutes, the flavours slowly fading during this time...This is what Bordeaux is all about! Incredible; a wine to move me to tears."

Further, please see the following comments about Latour:

"One of its strengths is said to be that it outperforms in weaker vintages, and so when the weather has not been so favourable it is perhaps to Latour that buyers of first growths should look first."

Even in the weak production of Sleeping Beauty, Gomes, to me, successfully built up the fantasy so that each audience member could enjoy the show, and, in his Swan Lake, when Kent finished her 32 fouettes which somewhat travelled, and cast a slight chill on the atmosphere, Gomes restored the kingdom of beauty immediately by his extraordinarily great turns and expression of his unchanged love for his partner. At that time, he took apparently showy-off attitude, in order to erase any bad memory about Kent from the audience (I felt like that). His partnering doesn't end at supporting his partner during turns and jumps, rather he does something extra to highlight his partner's strength, hide the weakness, and, further, cares for the whole performance. I like that kind of his great devotion, caring attitude, and commitment to his partner and the company.

My final comment: your ;blush; emoticon is really cute.

[Colleen Boresta]

Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet is not only the version of this ballet I have seen most often, it is also the Romeo and Juliet which has the power to touch my soul.  This is especially true when the title characters are lovers I can believe in.

     This is certainly the case with the July 10th matinee.  Bolshoi guest artist, Natalia Osipova, and ABT principal, David Hallberg, are the most natural and realistic young lovers I have ever seen.  Amazingly, this was Osipova’s debut in the role of Juliet.  I’ve read much about Osipova’s incredible technique, (July 10th was the first  time I saw her dance), but she is also a gifted actress.  Osipova has an incredibly mobile face, which shows Juliet’s every emotion – from joy to love to fear to sorrow.  She also knows how to use her body to show Juliet’s progression from a fourteen year old child to a young wife who cannot live without her husband.  Osipova’s dancing brims with a delicate buoyancy.  Her gorgeous port de bras and nimble footwork is a joy to behold.  Osipova’s body is the perfect vessel for Prokofiev’s gorgeously rhapsodic music.  Osipova’s Juliet touched me so deeply that I can’t imagine ever seeing another ballerina in the part.


     As Romeo, David Hallberg is clearly Osipova’s equal.  Hallberg, usually the most princely of performers, dances the part with full physical abandon.  (Being David Hallberg, however, his line is always perfect.)  Romeo’s explosive multiple air turns during the balcony scene clearly show his overwhelming love for Juliet.  Hallberg’s acting is as free of restraint as his dancing.  After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Hallberg rushes at him with such ferocity that he almost slips.

     As well as Osipova and Hallberg dance separately, the real wonder is how perfectly complete they are together.  During their pas de deux, both move as if they are one.  The sweetness of their passion during the balcony scene is very real and natural.  For me, Osipova and Hallberg are not just performing Romeo and Juliet.  They actually became Romeo and Juliet for that brief three hours at the Metropolitan Opera House.

     Jared Matthews has a good handle on the character of the happy go lucky Mercutio, but his dancing is disappointing.  His leaps lack elevation and his turns are devoid of power.  As Benvolio, Blaine Hoven is a revelation.  His technique is dazzling, with commanding jumps and  vigorous turns.  Patrick Ogle’s Tybalt seems more like a thug who delights in slaying Mercutio, than the protector of the Capulet family.  As always, Susan Jones is very warm and funny as Juliet’s nurse.

     The June 10th matinee of Romeo and Juliet will stay in my mind’s eye for a long time to come.  I hope ABT will continue to perform this Kenneth MacMillan classic for many years to come.  I hope the company also invites Natalia Osipova to perform with ABT for their 2011 season at the Met.

[Ambonnay]

The 2007 Osipova interview from which the NYT article draws the ballerina's indication of her desire to suffer is linked:

http://www.ballet.co...lia_osipova.htm

Some excerpts:

-- Osipova on why she wanted to do Giselle (Bolshoi): "I wanted to do something diametrically different [from Kitri], and I’ve always been attracted to ballets with some kind of dramaturgy, which offered a chance to act. Plus, I desperately want to suffer on stage. I feel close to such roles. I am drawn to Juliet, but Romeo and Juliet is not in our repertory now. So that’s how I came to Giselle."

-- When asked about her plans/dreams: "I dream about serious, major work – about Juliet. I would really like to dance it now, at my age, not when I am thirty. I don’t even care which version I dance. I’ve been invited to Stuttgart. Perhaps, I’ll be able to dance Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet” there..... [she discusses several other potential roles] ... It would be interesting to dance “Sleeping Beauty”, but it’s performed so rarely that I am unlikely to get it. In that ballet I would have liked to dance the happiness of youth. After all,I am still so young."  

[Barbara]

That was a really interesting and thoughtful interview. Now 3 years down the line she has had her Juliet but not with the Stuttgart, lucky for we New Yorkers! I would love to hear her impressions learning Juliet from Ferri and working with Hallberg.

[Ambonnay]

A general sense on Hallberg during the balcony scene, from the 2009 Indiana collaboration with Kent:


(newly posted video)
(also contains some Manon PDD excerpts)


(middle section includes Hallberg snippet)

The video can't capture what Hallberg/Osipova achieved, but the costumes were similar and one can get a very rough indication.

[Ambonnay]

I found it interesting that Ivan Vasiliev doesn't have a strong sense, at this point, whether his working with Osipova would reach "historic partnership" levels and that he seems realistic in his assessment:

"[I Vasiliev says:] 'What Nurevey and Fonteyn had was magic.' Because he often dances with Natalia, is that perhaps a partnership he wishes to develop further in the future? 'Nobody knows what will happen. We have to wait. It is always interesting to live when you don't know what will be in the future.'
'Of course, I want our partnership to continue. I always want to work. The important thing is not to stop."

http://www.dailymail...o=feeds-newsxml
(also confirms that I Vasiliev/Osipova are a real-life dating couple)

Part of me thinks that if it's not Vasiliev/Osipova, it could well potentially be Hallberg/Osipova (if Osipova is part of any historic partnership), but, as Vasiliev said, we'll have to see how things develop...