Jasper Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Sunday 6 and and Monday 7 October Munich audiences had the chance to watch „Raymonda“ for the last times this year – both performances with not uninteresting casts... Following are some of my impressions: Sunday Cast included: Maria Eichwald (Raymonda), Lukas Slavicky (Jean de Brienne), Alen Bottaini (Abderakhman – Viviane, again you were not here ;) ), plus Barbora Kohoutkova and Michelle Nossiter as Clemence and Henriette (both performances) and Norbert Graf plus Roman Lazik as Bernard and Béranger. It was Maria’s second Raymonda – and it was pure joy of dancing. Although Ray Barra in his version wants to give the whole story some depth by adding some psychologic details (like he did with Swan Lake, transforming it into a psycho drama of the prince), this aspect was not the overwhelming one on Sunday night – and I admit I loved it! Maria is so light, so quick on her feet, and often she seems to get carried away by the music. She threw herself into every single variation like there was none to follow – an incredible bundle of energy! I have never seen the coda of the dream variation performed like this before, the manege of grand jetes often is transformed into a manege of little jumps, but Maria flew around the stage as if her life depended on well executed grand jetes. Lukas Slavicky is one of the few who make something out of what I would call a “not so interesting role”. He’s very present, and also bursting of energy. Completed was the “trio infernale” by Alen Bottaini – Maria and Alen always have a great rapport, plus he seems to have a great time to be the “wild one”, though well educated when it counts to convince Raymonda’s aunt. Barbora Kohoutkova looked more happy dancing one of the friends than in the title role some months ago – she and Michelle look so similar, one has to have a close look to know who is who! Will be interesting to follow her career here in Munich! Monday Was the big Munich debut of the new First Soloists (the highest rank in Munich) Lucia Laccara (Raymonda) and Cyril Pierre (Abderakhman), plus Roman Lazik (Jean de Brienne) and Lukas Slavicky swapping roles compared to the day before. What I found most striking about Lucia Laccara are her long limbs – her arms and legs seemed soo long. She looked rather mature (in a good way) on stage, knowing about her experience and her good looks – but still Munich audience at first seemed to frighten her a bit – or was it more the company watching? It was a strange atmosphere, reminding me of a competition – and she did well. In the scene when Abderakhman is killed, her dramatic skills shone for a moment and made us look forward to her debut as Tatiana. Cyril Pierre danced Abderakhman for the injured Amilcar Moret – he’s by far the tallest dancer in this role, consequently some twists and turns were replaced for him. In the pas de deux with Raymonda they showed a beautiful rapport – this is a couple who knows each other really well, something I was missing in the pdd Raymonda – Jean de Brienne (plus I still find the first pdd of them the weakest part of the ballet…). To cut a long review short: these were two totally different performances, both with a quality of their own and I am glad I went to both. (But my heart and soul belonged to the Sunday cast…) Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Jasper - Welcome to Ballet Talk and thank you for posting! We have a few active posters in Germany; one more voice means real discussions are possible. Sonja, are you out there? Did you see this performance as well? Link to comment
Jasper Posted October 14, 2002 Author Share Posted October 14, 2002 Hi Leigh, thanks for your welcome - but guess who's behind this post?? (Was really hesitating if I should post this reply since I LOVE Jasper... ;)) Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Oh my. Is there one of you or two???? Link to comment
Jasper Posted October 14, 2002 Author Share Posted October 14, 2002 It's just me - silly me forgot the password for my old user name, thus after a long holiday could not log in any more... So I had to think of a new ID - and loving John Cranko's early ballets, this is what I came up with Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Ha! Well, hello again Sonja/sper! I've sent you password information to your email account and I hope you can be Sonja again; I wouldn't want you having conversations with yourself! Link to comment
Recommended Posts