la scala ballet

[John-Michael]

Does anyone know anything about the new La Scala dvd of Swan Lake... such as when it was filmed or if the production has more of the traditional choreography than does the ABT PBS broadcast? Thanks!

[chrisk217]

Does anyone know anything about the new La Scala dvd of Swan Lake... such as when it was filmed or if the production has more of the traditional choreography than does the ABT PBS broadcast?  Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have not seen this yet, but the cover credits the choreography to Burmeister/Ivanov

[rg]

greetings, j-m.

for starters here is nypl dance cat. entry for the burmeister:

Swan lake (Choreographic work : Burmeister and Gusev after Ivanov and Petipa, M)

Original title: Lebedinoe ozero. Chor: Vladimir Burmeister (Acts I, III, IV) and Petr Gusev (Act II) after Ivanov and Petipa; mus: Petr Chaikovskii; lib: Vladimir Begichev and Vasilii Gel'tzer; scen: A. Lushin; cos: E. Arkhangel'skaia. First perf: Moscow, Stanislavskii and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater, Apr 25, 1953, Stanislavskii and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater Ballet.//First perf by Paris Opera Ballet: Opéra, Dec 21, 1960. Scen & cos: Dimitri Bouchène.

the 'novelty' of the staging is that it hews rather closely to the 1877 score vs. the '95 redaction used by petipa and ivanov.

this production was subsequently done for the Paris Opera and also for the Finnish Nat'l B. (and perhaps elsewhere as well.)

there is a previous videorecording of this staging w/ POB led by pontois? and dupond?

it's 3rd act (the odile/ballroom scene) seems to have influenced ashton's version, complete w/the divertissements' being presented as the suite of baron von stein (rothbart's 'knightly' impersonation.) in sum, it does not relate here to matthew bourne's scheme the way ABT's might be said to do.

bourmeister's production had some influence on nureyev's later staging as well. (i haven't checked the gusev-credited act 2/lakeside scheme lately, so i don't know if it's more gorsky than ivanov-related, despite what the credits claim.)

i think the finnish prod. was staged closer to the stanislavsky-danchenko 'original' than the paris version. washingtonians saw the stanislavsky's current version some years back at kennedy center and can therefore speak in more detail.

i have no idea if the scala version is a careful faithful staging of what bourmeister initially created or if it's a vague, surface re-make. (for ex. in the POB staging, complete w/the prologue devised by bourmeister - which ABT's staging also has and which ashton's once had, enacted to the ballet's overture- showed the transformation of princess odette into a ballerina in a 'swan' tutu, whereas the stansislavsky, if mem. serves, and the finnish prod. stayed closer to the original in that the transformation was staged to show the princess's change from a young woman to a swan, seen gliding on the lake - a detail ABT's achieves similarly on stage as a prop-swan in Rothbart's arms, tho' not in the telecast which opts, most mistakenly in my view, for a ballerina in white tutu.)

so i suppose you might find this version 'more traditional' than ABT's but not by sticking close to the petipa/ivanov.

[chrisk217]

there is a previous videorecording of this staging w/ POB led by pontois? and dupond?

Pietragalla and Dupond. It is availlable at the moment only in France as far as I can tell

Amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007Z47XO/

[rg]

now it comes back to me; indeed it was pietragalla.

or i should say it comes back to me when someone's better memory provides the information.

[John-Michael]

Hmmm... I might have to give the LS Swan Lake a try and it's not too expensive on Amazon.

[canbelto]

I pre-ordered this, mostly for Zakharova. I've seen her live and on video and though she's not my favorite dancer I think she has potential to be a very regal, commanding, memorable Odette/Odile.