Caravaggio

[volcanohunter]

The details are still sketchy on this one, so bear with me if I have to add more details later.

Arthaus Musik will release a DVD and Blu-Ray of Mauro Bigonzetti's Caravaggio in the UK on June 1 and in the US on June 30 (possibly). The Staatsballett Berlin production stars Vladimir Malakhov, Polina Semionova, Beatrice Knop, Mikhail Kaniskin, Dmitry Semionov, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, Shoko Nakamura, Michael Banzhaf and Leonard Jakovina. The ballet is set to a score by Bruno Moretti, based on the works of Monteverdi. The performance is 93 minutes long, with an additional 29 minutes of bonus footage on the disc.

There's no entry on the Arthaus Musik site yet, but on another site I found that the UPC for the DVD is 807280146394, and for the Blu-Ray it's 807280146493.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/...83926&s=dvd

http://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/spielpl...p;id_language=2

trailer: http://cb-player.de/en_EN/29368

[dirac]

Thanks, volcanohunter. Have you seen the ballet?

[dirac]

I should have remembered, Horst Koegler reviewed it for danceviewtimes. Sounds a bit Derek Jarman.

http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2008/12/wher...crime-meet.html

There is no lack of contrast in the succession of the single scenes: soli, pas de deux and trois and small ensembles are distributed between mass ensembles, and it is the last ones, especially when Bigonzetti concentrates on the exuberant boys, which communicate a feeling of joy and boisterousness and bustling life in the streets of Rome. On the other side Bigonzetti does not hesitate to show the more brutal aspects of life in the shadow of the mafia, even the two dominating female characters represent the split nature of the hero – there is the soft and tender and caring Polina Semionova as the muse of his spiritual and religious longings, and there is Beatrice Knop who by torturing him satisfies his more masochist desires. Red clothes in abundance obviously hint that he was not afraid of wading in blood. Times were cruel and there is no lack of torture and violence. Poor Malakhov at four-fifths nude, clothed with the tiniest of slips, so that he can fully display the play of his muscles – he looks like a brother of Saint Sebastien – suffers ecstatically the pains which are afflicted to him – but always cares that he does not violate the laws of beauty.

[volcanohunter]

Thanks, volcanohunter. Have you seen the ballet?

No, I didn't travel to Berlin for it. All I saw was a brief report on DW-TV around the time of its premiere.

But I am impressed with how quickly it's been made into a DVD. Six months from premiere to video release is pretty speedy turnover.

Right now Patrice Bart is choreographing a ballet about Percy Bysshe Shelley for the company. I wonder whether we'll get a DVD of that one, too.

http://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/spielpl...p;id_language=2

[dirac]

Shelley, hmm? You’d think someone would do a Byron ballet before Shelley – lots of juicy female roles, drama, tragicomedy, incest – the works. (Shelley got around, too, of course.)

Malakhov will be perfectly cast as Shelley, I would think. Not so sure about Caravaggio.

[volcanohunter]

The DVD and Blu-Ray can now be pre-ordered at Amazon. The American release date is June 30.

[bart]

RE: Caravaggio. I would think that lighting would be crucial if there is any attempt to replicate look of Caravaggio's own work. The lighting designer should, ideally, be almost as important to the piece as the choreographer.

RE: Shelley as ballet subject. There IS that dramatic death at sea. I visualize lots of slender naiads and yards of undulating drapery to suggest the waves.