Knyaz/Prince Igor - Friday 29 September (ballet ??)

[mnacenani]

Having been an opera goer for 30+ years before becoming addicted to Russian

classical ballet after a single shot of Vishnova's Juliette, I really could not miss this.

But maybe I should have looked at the repertory page more closely : this pinnacle

of Russian opera, which I had seen at the ROH in 1990 in its full 5 act, 4½ hour version

has been butchered and cut down to 2:45 hours by butcher Lybimov, who should be

flogged, drawn and quartered for this blasphemy. Unrecognisable for anyone who

knows the original (dvd available at Premiere Opera) - even the beautiful overture

which is a staple concert piece has been cut to nothing - I mean it !  It has been in the

news for some time that there is a trend to cut all operas down to 2 hours because

the younger generation cannot concentrate on anything longer ...... disgusting !!

 

Now the ballet :  I found the Polovtsian Dances from this production on YT in HD.

Do watch this please :  the beautiful, exquisite PdB of the Russian school is strikingly

evident even in this sequence, at least this newcomer thinks so. Would like to hear

the views of any members who agree or disagree :

 

 

[Fleurdelis]

13 hours ago, mnacenani said:

 

But maybe I should have looked at the repertory page more closely : this pinnacle

of Russian opera, which I had seen at the ROH in 1990 in its full 5 act, 4½ hour version

has been butchered and cut down to 2:45 hours by butcher Lybimov, who should be

flogged, drawn and quartered for this blasphemy.

 

Too late, Lyubimov died not long after staging this opera. Cutting Prince Igor down to a more manageable size is a long-standing practice, but I agree that what Lyubimov did was nothing short of barbarity, he collaborated with a modern composer who had the gall to actually rewrite the Borodin/Glazunov/Rimsky-Korsakov score, thinking he could do it better!!! The recent version at the Met was also an abomination. But the Polovtsian Dances, especially the versions created by Fokine and by Goleizovski, are a true landmark in dance history.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Fleurdelis

[mnacenani]

On 9/30/2017 at 11:48 PM, Fleurdelis said:

The recent version at the Met was also an abomination.

 

Tcherniakov is alive and HE should be flogged, drawn and quartered for this atrocity !!  People who don't have the ability

to create anything great go for "reinterpreting" and/or "de-constructing" the great classics - be it opera, ballet or food :

you get a great classic Italian dish with its four ingredients at four corners of the plate which then you put together !!

 

The Polovtsian Dances clip from YT I posted above does not really do justice to what I saw live on stage :  regrettably

I am seeing too many instances of bad camera work and/or picture selection by people supposedly specialist in this kind

of work. The beautiful, flowing arms work that caught my attention at the performance is not too evident here. At livecasts

they sometimes drive me nuts by not showing the feet at a sequence I would be straining my neck to see the footwork were

I at the performance, and closing up on one or two dancers in a pas-de-quatre ..... it's incomprehensible !

[mnacenani]

On 9/30/2017 at 11:48 PM, Fleurdelis said:

But the Polovtsian Dances, especially the versions created by Fokine and by Goleizovski, are a true landmark in dance history.

 

Just looked up :  the Polovtsian Dances version of this Knyaz Igor 2013 Lyubimov staging

is Goleizovsky, ed. Grigarovich.

[mnacenani]

On 9/30/2017 at 11:48 PM, Fleurdelis said:

But the Polovtsian Dances, especially the versions created by Fokine and by Goleizovski, are a true landmark in dance history

 

The current staging (1954 revived 2001) of Knyaz Igor at the Mariinsky has the Polovtsian Dances

in its original 1909 Fokine choreography, and the opera at 3:45 hrs is less cut than the ridiculous

Lyubimov staging (2:45 hrs) I saw at the Bolshoy - this merits a special trip !