Marc Haegeman

Oh, I will definitely keep the poll open until Washington DC will have savoured the Simonov Nutcracker so that votes can be done in all fairness :grinning:

I've put up Geoff Whitlock's biography of Yelena Yevteyeva, leading dancer of the Kirov Ballet from the late sixties till 1993. http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Yevteyeva10.html. She features in the 1968 "Swan Lake" film with Markovsky and Panov, and also dances Princess Florine in "The Sleeping Beauty" with Kolpakova and Berezhnoi. She now acts as a coach at the Mariinsky, and has worked with Yulia Makhalina, Natalia Sologub and Daria Pavlenko, among others. As a professor at the Vaganova Academy her pupils include Svetlana Zakharova and Daria Pavlenko. At the same time you can also vote for your favorite Russian Nutcracker. :grinning: For Ballet Lovers Only Thank you for visiting.

Careful: DVD players can play all formats, including CD. Yet CD-players cannot play DVDs. CD-players only play CDs.

Silvy, the DVD is a disc just like the CD, same size, same appearance, only able to contain more information. DVD-players usually play DVD and CD. so if you have the DVD, there's no more need to transfer the sound to a CD.

This Paquita is available on DVD. But if you haven't a DVD-player yet, you can record the sound of the videotape onto your computer and make a CD-recording from there. Maybe not the easiest way, but it can be done.

Again, as with the Don Q, Silvy, I would advise the soundtrack of a video recording (take the Kirov-Paquita with Makhalina/Zelensky) - which you probably already tried .

I also purchased that new recording with the Sofia National Opera Orchestra under Nayden Todorov and found it an extremely boring experience to sit through. Already after a few minutes maestro Todorov finishes off the score with his slow, inane tempi and some of the most unimaginative conducting I heard in ages (no need to look for anything as "daring" as long pauses, Mel, when you're on automatic pilot ). The non-dancing passages suffer the most, as if he has no idea what he is conducting. Really not the best way to introduce/present poor old Minkus (who is already not the most appreciated composer around) on CD. He deserves a lot better. The liner notes are sloppily written, fail to point out the non-Minkus sections and even the numbers are sometimes wrongly identified. The recording is about as pale and uninteresting as all the rest. To my mind a very disappointing issue adding nothing of value to the ballet music catalogue on disc.

In the culture and arts sections of the Russian press there recently was a lot of talk about a crisis of the Kirov Ballet management. Not much of a surprise to anyone who has been following the Kirov in the last decade more or less closely, yet the fact remains that this time Valery Gergiev, the big chief of the Mariinsky, publicly stated his dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in the ballet company, and more precisely with its management. It is now deemed essential to find a choreographer to run the company which would imply that Makhar Vaziev (who is only company manager since 1995) is about to be replaced. Yet just as in previous instances they find it rather difficult to come up with somebody to replace him. Several people have been named in the Russian articles, the one more absurd than the other, varying from Asylmuratova to Vikharev, and from Zelensky to Lopatkina. There is also serious regret that Alexei Ratmansky, one of Russia's most esteemed choreographers, is now lost to the Bolshoi. At least one article justly emphasizes the improbable position the Kirov Ballet has been in within the Mariinsky Theatre since 1995 when artistic director Oleg Vinogradov was ousted: no proper artistic director or choreographer, the unequal and unreal position of the ballet company related to the opera and the orchestra, and last but not least the total subordination to somebody who doesn’t understand a thing about ballet. Also stressed is the change in the general attitude toward Makhar Vaziev, who keeps the company going since 1995. Until recently he was even over-generously credited with the achievements of his predecessor, like the so-called discovery of a brilliant new generation of ballerinas or the expansion of the repertory with Western choreographers, now he is blamed for all what’s going wrong with the company: unsuccessful premieres and questionable choice of repertory, unequal level of the performances, even on tours, troubled relationships with invited choreographers and local stars, stressful situations inside the company, etc. Some articles (in Russian language): http://www.gorod-spb.ru/story.php?st=3086 http://www.kommersant.ru/region/spb/page.h...9032§ion=34 http://www.izvestia.ru/culture/article41809 In any case something to be followed. I hope that our Russian posters (Inga, Mikhail, …) will join in and give more information about this case.

January 7 through 24, 2004 the Bolshoi Ballet is performing at the Palais Garnier in Paris. The company has last been there in 1991. There are three programmes: "Swan Lake" (version by Grigorovich), Jan. 7-11: Svetlana Zakharova, Nadezhda Gracheva, Galina Stepanenko and Anna Antonicheva are sharing the lead; Andrei Uvarov and Sergei Filin alternate as Siegfried. "La Fille du Pharaon" (Lacotte): Jan 15-18: Svetlana Zakharova, Nadezhda Gracheva or Maria Alexandrova as Aspicia; Sergei Filin or Ruslan Skvortsov as Taor; Gennady Yanin or Denis Medvedev as Passiphonte; Maria Alexandrova or Elena Andrienko as Ramze. "The Bright Stream" (Ratmansky): Jan. 21-24: Inna Petrova or Anastasia Yatsenko as Zina; Yuri Klevtsov or Rinat Arifulin as Piotr; Maria Alexandrova or Ekterina Shipulina as the ballerina; Sergei Filin or Yan Godovsky as the dancer. Info courtesy of the press service of the Palais Garnier. All casting information subject to change of course. Not a bad programme with 2 premieres for the West ("Fille" and "Bright Stream", the latter replacing the initially scheduled Tsiskaridze vehicle "Queen of Spades" and "Chopiniana".) Zakharova is definitely pushed as the company's main attraction and will likely dance opening nights.

I've added a biography of Gabriella Komleva on For Ballet Lovers Only, written by Geoff Whitlock who has already been contributing several texts to the site. Komleva was a leading Kirov ballerina between 1957 and 1988, and now acts as a coach of Pavlenko (in the beginning), Golub, and Osmolkina, among others. Most admirers of Russian ballet know her from that stunning "Grand Pas Classique" clip with Yuri Soloviev. Direct link: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Komleva10.html At the same time one can still participate in the poll "Does the Kirov needs to dance Forsythe" - yes or no? Thank you for visiting

Thanks for the link, Ari. Exactly the same orchestra again but with a different conductor - I guess it would be way too optimistic to expect a release from the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky?

Silvy, it's not that hard to choose, there is just one complete Don Q on CD as far as I know. It's the double CD from the Sofia National Opera Orchestra conducted by Boris Spassov, released by Capriccio sometime in the mid nineties. I wouldn't recommend it (the playing is about as dull as the recording) if it wasn't the only full length version around (I suppose it still is available?). If you want to have a better Don Q, try to copy the soundtrack of one of the Don Q videos. The Kirov version with Terekhova, Ruzimatov comes to mind. Spassov and his orchestra also cut a disc with fragments from Minkus' Paquita and Bayadère.

There is a die-hard Petersburg tradition not to clap in Raymonda's variation. When Nureyev staged it for Paris he let his Raymonda's clap real loud. When he was corrected by Ninella Kurgapkina, asking why he allowed this while he knew quite well that in St. Petersburg this would never find grace, he replied: "Because Raymonda is a bitch". Who said there anything about princesses?

Mikhail was quite right: Volochkova did win (see the link posted by Ari Volochkova/Bolshoi)

The Evteyeva/Markovsky/Panov Swan Lake was released in Germany on DVD (in other words in PAL). I haven't seen it myself, but I was told that the transfer quality wasn't really top. You can order it through Amazon.de http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...6214399-2695254 VAI just announced the release of three historic Bolshoi ballet performances: Swan Lake with Plisetskaya/Fadeyechev, Romeo and Juliet with Ulanova/Zhdanov, and Spartacus with Vasiliev/Liepa/Bessmertnova/Timofeyeva. More on: http://www.vaimusic.com/NewReleases.shtml

Local foreigner, could you possibly tell us what and whom of the Bolshoi performed? Thank you. Nikolai Tsiskaridze indeed got injured during the rehearsals of "Clavigo" with the Paris Opera Ballet. Quite seriously so. He is out for several months.

As released by the Mariinsky press: 4th International Ballet Festival "MARIINSKY" St Petersburg, March 5-14, 2004 Featuring: The Mariinsky Ballet Company Stars (Zhanna Ayupova, Diana Vishneva, Uliana Lopatkina, Daria Pavlenko, Leonid Sarafanov, Andrian Fadeyev), Bolshoi Theatre Stars (Maria Alexandrova, Sergei Filin), ABT (Paloma Herrera), Opera de Paris (Agnès Letestu, Jan-Guillaume Bart, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche, José Martinez), Royal Ballet Covent Garden (Alina Cojocaru, Roberto Bolle, Johan Kobborg) Programme of the Festival March, 5 Ballets by William Forsythe (Mariinsky premiere) March, 6 Swan Lake March, 7 Ballets by William Forsythe (Mariinsky premiere) March, 8 Chopiniana, Sounds of Empty Pages, The Rite of Spring March, 9 Chopiniana, Les Noces, Etudes March, 10 Manon March, 11 Sleeping Beauty March, 12 Don Quixote March, 13 Bayadere March, 14 International Stars Gala

Same for the Kirov Ballet, I would say. Nora, check out the Kirov Ballet threads on Ballettalk for descriptions and appreciations of Fokine's "Scheherazade". With the recent Kirov US tour just behind us, you are bound to find a couple.

Info about Maris Liepa can be found on For Ballet Lovers Only: http://users.skynet.be/ballet-lovers/Maris10.html Maris is the father of Ilze and Andris.

Thank you, Inga. He is really the man to look out for in the next three years at the Bolshoi. Great work. I'm sure somebody will be found to translate the text in English .

Exactly, as far as the unofficial version goes, Ratmansky's "The Bright Stream" will be shown during the Paris tour instead of "The Queen of Spades". A much more interesting choice if you ask me.

As far as I know it was only broadcast in Russia. I have a ME-SECAM (Russian color standard) copy.

Paul, it was released under the title (freely translated) "I was tired of living in my own land". His suicide was covered as well, as you can guess.

The "Beauty" performance with Kolpakova, Soloviev and Mezentseva dates from 1976. As far as I know it was filmed in Moscow (but published by Sony Japan, nla). It's indeed a remarkable document, if mainly for Kolpakova, a bit younger than on the better known film with Berezhnoi and Kunakova. The artistry of Soloviev shines through, although the 1964 version with Sizova is much preferable. Any Soloviev admirer should get hold of that Russian TV documentary from a few years back, which had interviews with Komleva, Kolpakova, and Soloviev's widow, and a stunning collection of footage from the man in his prime. Featured among others were the well known "Grand Pas Classique", "Flower Festival of Genzano", solos from "Le Corsaire", Blue Bird pas de deux, Black Swan pas de deux, La Bayadère, and a mind-blowing variation from "Laurencia", even eclipsing efforts by Nureyev and Vasiliev. In my book some of the most awesome male dancing ever put on film.

Great story, Andrei B) . At least Béjart was right about one thing :grinning: The accepted title in translation of this Vinogradov masterpiece is "Knight in a Tigerskin".