EricMontreal22 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 OK so I know the new director of the Marrinsky, much to my shgrin, has said that the time of the reconstructions is behind them and it seems doubtful we'll see them again soon (the Bayadere 1900 production already hasn't been performed in a while it seems). Does anyone have a record of what from these ballets has been filmed? As someone who's kinda obsessed with these works and their original productions--particularly Beauty, it's frustrating to think we may have them retired from the repertoire with NO filming for DVD, when they seem such a natural thing to be filmed. At first I thought maybe they weren't being filmed so they'd remain special--something people were happy to pay a lot to see in petersburg or on tour but now I find out they're not being performed much in the future--if at all--it's all the more frustrating. What I've tracked down on DVD so far is the glorious presentation of Act III of Sleeping Beauty--witht eh Apotheosis missing sadly--from the DVD A New Year's Celebration in St Petersburg. It's one of the more pricey ballet DVDs I own, and frustrating it only has the one act but really, for me, it's worth it. I also recently got the Sacred Stage DVD, which is a pretty good (though short) documentary in itself, because I knew it had clips from the ballet as well as nearly the whoel Nereid number from Act II, which is particularly well danced. Is there anything else commercially available? I haven't found, on youtube or anywhere, ANY clips of the 1900 Bayadere reconstruction--has anything been recorded? As for Aurora, youtube does seem to have the complete ballet--but unfortunately it seems to be an audience bootleg, something that makes me feel pretyt morally dubious... I guess that's all we can hope for? What a frustrating situation! Link to comment
CHazell2 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Hi there Eric Montreal Like you, I am a great fan of the Mariinsky reconstructions of the Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere. I saw the reconstructions in London when the Kirov brought them on tour and I always felt that I was gazing at a different world. Why can't the Mariinsky Ballet just film them and put them on DVD? I think that part of the problem is that the Kirov Ballet old timers were very resistant to the reconstuctions not only because they saw it as a betrayal of everything that they were ever taught but also because they saw it as vulgar in some ways. Russians are a very patrotic people and the 1952 Soviet production of the Sleeping Beauty became part of that patrotism for reasons that I can't explain very well because I haven't got Tim Scholl's book on hand but his argument is that the Kirov Ballet wanted to Russianize Petipa because he was seen as too foreign and one could certainly make a case that Konstantin Seregev actually saved the ballet from more radical treatment. Sure he made a lot of changes and discarded the mime (which I think is a serious crime. The story does not make any sense without mime) but he did what seemed to be expedient at the time and the Russians did not know that the notations even existed until 1997. Although having said that I read somewhere that Mona Inglesby who had inherited the notations did try to approach the Kirov Ballet with a view to selling them but she decided against it and I think that was a good thing because they certainly would have disappeared and never seen again La Bayadere is more problematic as the 1940s staging is much loved and I think that some of the reasons why it is so much disliked is because ballet dancers especially the older ones who have trained under the Soviet system see it as a betrayal of their beloved teachers. Also I think that they don't really know how to deal with the mime because mime is seen as being a relic of the Imperial past and I also think that because deaf and mute people use sign language to communicate, the Kirov dancers are a bit wary of it. But basically, there is a lot of pettiness about the whole issue of reconstruction Sorry for rambling on but I just wanted to explain the probable reasons why the Mariinsky Theatre seemes to have dropped the reconstructions. It is extremely sad because I would love to see the Sleeping Beauty again to refresh my memory of it but it's the way of the world. Personally I admire Sergei Vikharev for having the guts to reconstruct these wonderful ballets and for the Kirov for giving them a fair chance. The reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty has been performed at least every year since its premiere in April 1999. I am always happy to discuss Sleeping Beauty as it is my favourite ballet of all Link to comment
EricMontreal22 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 It's my favorite ballet too. If I had known that the times they brought both ballets to New York were maybe the only times I'd see the reconstructions I would have done everything I could--even though I was a starving student at the time--and travelled to see them. lol Oh well. I actually just finished Tim Scholl's book which is *fascinating*. It's definetly a complex subject. And I even get some of the complexities--I like the Soviet versions of both ballets the Kirov has quite a bit--Sergeyev's Sleeping Beauty is actually my favorite production that I've seen all of,a nd so I was ok with their plan to keep both productions of both ballets and maybe only do the reconstructions a few times a year (they must be expensive to perform). No need to apologize about rambling--it's great to read your thoughts and a subject I could ramble on myself for a long time... (as anyone who's read even some of my posts on here will know ;) ) I admit I was kinda hoping we'd get a few more of these... Raymonda? Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 What I've tracked down on DVD so far is the glorious presentation of Act III of Sleeping Beauty--witht eh Apotheosis missing sadly--from the DVD A New Year's Celebration in St Petersburg. It's one of the more pricey ballet DVDs I own, and frustrating it only has the one act but really, for me, it's worth it. The New Year's DVD with Act III is back at Berkshire Record Outlet for $14. Since shopping via the Amazon search box above supports this board, I should also point out that the DVD is selling there for far less than it once did. http://www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=140748&stocknum=&submit=Find+Item&text=&filter=all Link to comment
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