Bolshoi 2024/2025 Season

[Buddy]

I just finished watching the Bolshoi live performance of “The Sleeping Beauty.”  An announcement said that it would be rebroadcast, but for the moment it appears to have ended.

There are times when Beauty does seem to transcend everything else. For me, this was one of them.

 

Edited September 7 by Buddy

[Buddy]

Some personal highlights.

Elizaveta Kokoreva, as Princess Aurora, was a gem. In the the Rose Adage, just before the final receiving of the roses, she had an absolutely lovely, solo dance sequence. Again in Act II, her solo in the vision scene with a more relaxed and focussed, facial expression, was equally beautiful. And in the always lovely Act II pas de deux her solo was extremely fine along with the opening partnered dancing.

Her dancing had a perfected excellence and she modulated her youthful radiance to best suit the moment.

Alyona Kovalyova, as the Lilac Fairy, was her usual, radiant wonderfulness.

Artem Ovcharenko, as Prince Desire, had finely articulated, airy jumps and impressively statuesque moments.

Anastasia Stashkevich, as Princess Florine, in the Bluebird pas de deux, actually excelled, for me, in her finely articulated solo, following the iconic opening duet.

Daria Khokhlova, as Cinderella, was charming.

I’m not sure how much of this production can be credited to Yuri Grigorovich, but it does contain at least one of his trademarks in interpreting the classics, and that's his noteworthy ability to condense. In the sequence of fairytale dances this is handled extremely well. There’s a juxtapositioning of all the couples at the ending that works exceptionally well and the highlighted duets are charming.

I sometimes feel that Valery Gergiev keeps the best of the outstanding musicians for himself. Whenever he conducts, the music always sounds better, even though all the Mariinsky/Bolshoi musical accompaniments are highest quality. Still, the music is normally secondary for me, but there were times in this performance when the music crystallized with such beautiful clarity that it stood out exceptionally well.

All in all, this was a performance of remarkable beauty.

Added: There’s a video clip easily found (unofficial, so I won’t post it) of Elizaveta Kokoreva dancing the Act II Aurora variation from several years ago that I would really recommend watching. She already had many of the remarkable qualities that were seen today. I think that it summarizes a great deal from all of today's performances.

 

 

Edited September 7 by Buddy