mnacenani

Insider info from Moscow gleaned today :  Masha Alexandrova is still at the Balshoy but "working on her own terms",

she is expected to appear on Tuesday as cast. Boy wouldn't I like to be at that performance .... her fans will bring

the house down. Tix would be available at "agencies" but there is no time to get a visa

http://www.ismeneb.com/blogs-list/170217-Bolshoi-chief-Urin-to-stay-on-.html

as reported by Ismene Brown. In the last couple of years there has been talk of Tsiskaridze

preparing to catapult himself over from Vaganova into Urin's position but by the look of things

his ambitions will not be realised .....

http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/576/roles/#20170225190000

Due to fly to Moscow tomorrow morning to see this one-off on Saturday. Will be the first time I will

see Vinogradova in a full ballet, previously saw her only in "Spectre de la Rose" at the Balshoy

gala last October. Expect Vanya to be good impersonating his ancestor !   Hope to report from

location.

"Spasiba balshoy" Deflope for posting this interview. As I had written above I inadvertently lost my

last chance to see Masha as Gamzatti when I had to cancel my trip last month. However I consider

myself very lucky now that I was able to see her live as Raymonda, Kitri, Medora and Gamzatti in

the last 12 months. She was one of a kind, my default Gamzatti, and I will really miss her. Those

big black eyes sparkle with intelligence, wonder what she will be up to quite soon, wish her the

best !

Thanks Helene, I had missed this article. We first saw Philippe Jordan many many years ago when

he was a junior conductor at Staatsoper Berlin. One just knew instinctively that this young man was

destined to rise to the top, talent shows.

Read about this only today and am so sad to hear this ! Last saw Masha as Gamzatti at the Balshoy

past October 29th (with Zaharova and Rodkin), am so glad now I made that trip. She was my default

Gamzatti ever since I saw her in this role ca 5 years ago when Mezzo first telecast the current produc-

tion of Bayaderka - did not know even her name at the time and was dazzled by her technique and

characterisation and popped over to my laptop briefly to look up the casting. Was supposed to see

the same cast of last October again on 26th January but could not make the trip and gave away my

tix ..... so sad and sorry for this now.

Dear Kaysta, re Misty :  had never seen her in a full ballet, saw telecast of her Juliet vs Bolle at Scala couple

of weeks ago and really appreciated her performance :

I accept Swan Lake (not my fav ballet) is a different ball game - have seen 3 different casts of Balshoy during past 18 months,

and watched 9 DVDs and I must say I really to my mind have not seen a dancer who can get both Odette and Odile right. Saw

webcast from Paris last and thought Amandine Albisson was OK as Odette but was not Odile.

Dear Jayne : Ismene Brown posted couple of weeks ago a review of Perm Ballet's R&J with Osipova guesting,

wonder whether you have seen this :

http://www.ismeneb.com/blogs-list/170109-Osipova-slays-Russians-in-her-Juliet-debut.html

I would dearly liked to see Natasha as Juliet, have seen a video of her as J during her first

season at Royal Ballet and thought she was GREAT, will be looking out for it.

RAI5 channel telecast yesterday's matinee performance of R&J later in the evening.

I had never seen Misty in a full ballet either live or on tv and really wanted to see her

and finally got my break. Ballet people in Russia whom I talk with think Misty is not

tops in classical ballet but this junior member liked her very much. For me ballet is

a high art form for drama and I attach great importance to acting ability and characte-

risation, and I thought Misty has excellent acting ability and characterisation, as Juliet

at least. I cannot comment on technique,maybe her PdB is not true Vaganova style but

I did not see anything amiss. I recorded the telecast and in the next couple of weeks am

hoping to show it to my ballet friends in Istanbul and balletmistress Natalia who is from

Vaganova and discuss it with them in the hope of gleaning some insight and info. Would

also enjoy hearing your take on Misty. (nol comment on Bolle who is a known quantity,

but must say Russians I have seen last season as Romeo, namely Shklyarov and Ovcha-

renko, have infinitely better characterisation, they make one believe they are Romeo and

not someone impersonating Romeo, if you know what I mean)

If I can be allowed, as a newcomer to classical ballet, to post a few comments : video livestream quality from Munich and

Vienna has improved drastically over the past year - just a year ago we were switching off the streams we had purchased

from Staatsoper Wien to save our eyesight !  I enjoyed the major part of the performance, though I will miss Lacarra for

ever. I hold "Masha and Volodya" (aka Shirinkina and hubby Shklyarov) in high regard - saw them a couple of times at

Mariinsky last season. The rest of the cast imho not of the same caliber but I liked Ivy Amista and Prisca Zeisel whom I

saw first time, and thought Ryjkova was a good Juliet. In Moscow Zelensky has a negative reputation for treating his

dancers badly. I was told when he took up Stasik 20+ dancers left immediately, and seems the same thing happened

when he took up Munich last summer. As you would know he was given the axe recently at Stasik and Hilaire brought in.

Well obviously someone else also thinks she is so that makes two of us !

I was able to see Shrayner only once at the Balshoy ballet gala last October

when she replaced Osipova as the Silfida against Belyakov on the second

night and I had written (below) at the time :

"OK Osipova is off (grumble) but "Silfida" tonight is none other than Margarita

Shreiner who has been at the back of my mind ever since Vaziev cast her as

Kitri on the ROH London tour. When she appears I almost think it's Natasha

again and I have misread the program but it's Shreiner all right : same height

and stature as Osipova and what a delight to discover. Excellent dancer as

Sylphide, charismatic, good characterisation, excellent technique - jetes may

not be on par with Natasha, for now ! I have to say this is zvezda material and

destined to become top Giselle if she is a hard worker and can act"

My fellow admirer has just posted a video on Youtube of Shrayner as Silfida :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UctG_GNbinA

Please do have a look - have I got it somehow right ??

For the attention of anyone who might be interested : I had posted my comments on these two nights below.

Just recently discovered that contributor "Fiordililia" has posted the videos of these galas on Dailymotion :

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/fiordililia

The videos posted on 22.10.16, 23.10.16 and 24.10.16 were shot at the galas mentioned.

Spasiba Balshoy Birdsall and Mashinka !  Your inputs have sort of strengthened my resolve to concentrate more

on Mariinsky in the new year. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous posts as a plus point for the Marii : one

can see two different ballets over two nights quite frequently while this is never the case at the Balshoy as they

usually stage a single ballet over five days Wed to Sun. This year is a special case at Balshoy as it is Grigarovich

jubilee year and they are staging all his works in 2-3 night episodes with repeats couple of months apart. Still one

cannot see two ballets over two nights.

Have checked my "CV" above and I have seen Kolegova as Medora last year but must confess I cannot single her

out, only recall that it was an excellent performance overall. Was the first time I ever set foot at the Marii and I was

sort of preoccupied with seeing Lapatkina as Nikiya the next evening, the second time I would be seeing her live

after 20 years. I had no great interest in ballet when I had seen her first time as Odette/Odile in London in 1997.

Good to hear that I am not the only one who has defected to classical ballet after chasing opera for 30 years.

My wife hasn't, and is of the opinion that my defection to ballet is a sure sign of declining mental capacity, if

not anything worse !

Dear Birdsall thanks for the heads up : just checked Marii "playbill" and you are right : all SB performances are at M2. So I will never get to see the historic panorama .... sigh !

What's more, SB is on tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow Aksana Skorik is Aurora !! Am dying to see her live and there are still tix available but I can't go : I had planned to

see Spartak at Balshoy (Rodkin/Zaharova/Nikulina) end of this month and my visa is valid from 29th Nov .... sooo annoying !

I think come the new year I will not do advance booking at the Balshoy which is such a hassle : as you would know advance booking at Balshoy opens three months

ahead of performance date while casting is posted 2-3 weeks ahead, so one either has to buy tix blind or be prepared to spend a fortune after casting is posted.

Over the last two years I have noticed that one can get tix online for Mariinsky a couple of weeks ahead and can usually pick and choose casting, and the best seats

are half the price at the Balshoy. Due to the current state of affairs between RF and TR flights are half full so I could really go see Skorik tomorrow if I had a visa.

Picking and choosing casting :  as a latecomer I am naturally interested in seeing the "absolute best" eg Zaharova, Krysanova, Vishnova, Lapatkina etc but lately

I have been having doubts about this approach. I would perhaps never have "discovered" Shakirova last year if I had not got tix blind for Don Kixot at Marii, and same

for Shreiner if I had not got tix blind for the ballet gala at Balshoy this season. I have been thrown into doubt, as I attach great importance to characterisation, as much

as tech if not more. Maybe one should book blind and see what comes along ..... ?

So nice to get a prompt response - thank you ! Sleeping Beauty has no "drama" and as such does not touch my heart, have never clicked with this really. OK I know Nureyev termed it the "ballet des ballets" and it has been called "the encyclopaedia of

classical choreography" but for me it has never been more than a "grand spectacle" or "divertissement". Lastly I saw it live in Paris two years ago and at the Balshoy this year, not moved. What was most interesting for me at the Balshoy was the character dancers in the last act, the Puss-in-Boots, Bluebird, Wolf etc you know : I think Russian dancers really excel in these bit roles which adds considerably to the overall enjoyment of the performance. However I would like to see it once at the Mariinsky : I recently watched a lecture on Youtube by an American academic on the Ratmansky reconstruction of SB in which he said Marii has this moving panorama at the back of the stage when the Lilac Fairy is taking Desirée to see Aurora and I would like to see this historic contraption ! Plus, the Marii score has this incredible "violin concerto" between acts 2 and 3 (hope I remember correctly) which I would like to hear live once.

Dear Drew maybe "we Orientals" have a different temperament and are looking for or are affected by a different (emotional ?) experience in "ballet". I understand ballet can mean different things to different people. My tutor in Moscow who is a well known ballet historian and lecturer was in NY earlier this year for MG Workshop and was not impressed by the NYCB - she said "one can figure out why ABT performances are always sold out while you can find tix easily for NYCB". On the other hand one of my friends in Istanbul who is also a ballet writer and sees ballet all over Europe and in NYC regularly was in Paris recently to see ABT and on her return said "ABT as usual - all pomp and circumstance". I am not trying to stir up controversy, only trying to explain that we may be looking for different experiences. No ballet I had ever seen in London and Paris from the 80's onwards had captivated me the way Romeo&Juliet with Vishnova&Shklyarov did - that was a "spiritual" experience !

Dear Ashton Fan as I have not seen live ballet in the US I cannot express any firm opinion. From what I have seen on TV and Youtube ABT obviously has had and has excellent dancers. If you will excuse me for saying so Balanchine is not my forte as I do not accept movement synced to music without a story as "ballet" .... chacun a son gout !  After discovering Russian classical ballet I really cannot bring myself to spend money on seeing "ballet" in London or Paris. Two weeks ago I saw Bayaderka at the Balshoy with Zaharova-Alexandrova-Rodkin ....... pure bliss ! Was hoping to post my take soon after under "Bolshoi" but got distracted.

21 minutes ago, Helene said:

My friend Alexander tried to teach me to pronounce ы, and after about five days, gave up for his own sanity  

Dear Helen it's obvious that Angliskiy-speakers struggle with some Russki vowels,

while Russian opera singers struggle with Italian vowels . But for us "Turetski" the

Russian alphabet is quite easy to learn to pronounce correctly, we have the same

sounds in our language. The alphabet although looking weird at first sight is also

quite easy to master - I can read the big letters writing (or print) quite easily but

the handwriting with small lettering is quite counter-intuitive : "T" written as "m"

and many other letters also bearing no resemblance to even Cryllic capitals !

Privyet iz Maskva ..... Hello from Moscow for the Angliskiy and Amerikanskiy (!)

I am back to see what I would call the "dream cast" of Bayaderka :  Zaharova,

Alexandrova and Rodkin !! Am a bit tense since Zaharova (my joint World No. 1

with Vishnyova) can pull out at the last minute due to unspecified causes and

you get to know it only when you pick up a program once at the Balshoy, has

happened to me on two occasions last season. I hope this will not be the case

and what I will see will merit a special post on this forum.

I saw this current production on live satcast on Mezzo a couple of years ago

and was captivated : Zaharova, Alexandrova and Lantratov. At the time I did

not know Masha Alex. at all and she stupefied me as Gamzatti with technique

on par with Zaharova - no mean feat as you would know. This telecast later

appeared as DVD/BR and I would urge the membership to get their hands on

one if it is not available on YT.

Dear Helen and Volcanohunter, "Balshoye Spasiba" for your posts, I really mean it !

I was alerted to the difference in pronounciation when on my first visit to Maskva I

started talking about Diana "Vishneva" with my guide and she kept referring to her

as "Vishnyova". So I resolved to find out for myself how to pronounce words in

correct Russki fashion and enrolled on a Russki beginners' course. As the Latin

alphabet does not have the letter "Yo" (E with two dots on top) the Anglo-Saxons

substituted their "e" and it became "Vishneva". But they could have adopted the

correct phonetic spelling "Vishnyova" ..... no problem for English speakers to

pronounce this ?? Anyway as I am trying to learn to speak Russki correctly please

bear with me on this issue. I am hopeful that there will be some content in my

reports from location to make the senior members tolerate my antics !

Sorry about my occasional slips of tongue, from now on I will take care to stick to the correct phonetic spelling "Balshoy".

On first night the first piece was Pdd from Talisman. First time
I saw this live and really enjoyed it. Darya Hahlova is a sweet
cute thing and paired by Lapatin was a joy to watch imho.

Second piece was "Spring Waters" (Rahmaninov-A Messerer)
danced by Tihomirova-Ovcharenko now man&wife. This I did
not know and was absorbing it but something happened and
it was cut short : the dancers disappeared into the wing and
did not reappear, the music played on to an empty stage for a
short while and stopped - not knowing the music I could not tell
whether this was it or whether Maestro Sarokin gave a wink to
the players. I thought I saw Ovcha wince as he caught Tixo just
before this ..... next night will show whether he was injured.

Third piece Pdd from Flames of Paris danced by Diana Kosyreva
and Igor Tsvirko. I did not know Kosyreva well and imho she was
charismatic and with perfect technique. Tsvirko is a known asset
and seemed was out to prove that anything Vasiliev can do he
also can.

Fourth piece maybe the high point of the first half : Pdd from
Sylphide with Osipova-Belyakov ! First time this poor soul was
able to set eyes on Natasha in flesh, after traveling to London
three times in the past only for her to get injured and pull out.
As expected she was an excellent Sylphide, but she really is a
fragile little thing which maybe one does not notice on TV or
Youtube ..... I decided to forgive her the misery she caused me.

Fifth piece the Grand Pas from Raymonda with full cast ! Katya
Krysanova, second only to Zaharova on my roster, with Gudanov
as JdB. Katya is special, was great I thought .... my friend said
"Yeah - Katya loves being a queen, not so much being a peasant !"
The variation was danced by Margarita Shreiner, who got noticed
when Vaziev suddenly cast her as Kitri one night during Balshoy's
London tour. Could not tell whether she is zvezda material, but more
was to come ...

Second half started with a surprise cancellation announcement : no
Spectre de la Rose with Vinogradova-Gudanov !  OK we know Maria
gave birth a few months ago but there is not much strenuous dancing
for the "Rose" in SdlR is there ?? She gets her maternity breaks !!

So we jump to Valse (Moshkovskiy-Vainonen) danced by Ryzhkina
and Savin. Nice music, but really cannot recall much about what the
dance looked like, must find it on Youtube sometime to refresh.

Up comes "a high point" of the second part : the Pdd (Pas de Ruban)
from "Shetnaya Predostorojnost" ....... you would know it as "FMG".
(most Russians would not know what you mean if you said "FMG" !)
Anyway, Natasha Osipova was very cute in what is said to be her sig-
nature role and much is made of it by some people I know, but I would
like to see Natasha as Giselle or Kitri and really not allocate my hard
earned cash to Shetnaya. Colas was Lapatin, plus 8 ruban bearers.

Now something which I had not seen live before : Diana & Akteon Pdd
from Esmeralda, with Krysanova-Tsvirko. My, what an imposing Diana
Katyusha is ..... cannot help recall my friend's words above ! Excellent
poise, technique and presence imho. Thoroughly enjoyed it, memorable.

The runnerup to closing number was Mort de Cygne, also a ubiquitous

gala piece. Anna Nikulina put on a great show but for some reason this

piece does not touch my heart, no matter who dances it. Maybe I should

have psychoanalysis ?? (My Moscow mentor Vita just texted if I had seen

Lapatkina live and was not touched I should really go see a psych !)

So we come to the last number : Grand Pas Classique, danced by Olga
Smirnova and Simyon Chudin, regular partners lately. This gala piece is
really not one of my favourite numbers (would opt for Don Kixot Grand
Pas every time !) maybe due to my poor taste and/or ignorance. How-
ever must confess Smirnova-Chudin really shone and maybe stole the
show. Once again excellent artistry, presence, spot-on timing and tech.
Chudin imho the Siegfried/Desirée for all time, par excellence !!

Surprisingly little clamour at the end, very few curtain calls though Osi-
pova had not jetted off and appeared. So unlike the Balshoy crowd I got
to know ..... wonder whether the audience profile is different for the New
Stage where this show was staged. My take on the second night to follow !