Ballet - DVD

ENGLISH

Ballet (OA1068BD)

Aurélie Dupont (Ballet Dancer); Agnès Letestu, (Ballet Dancer); Marie-Agnès Gillot (Ballet Dancer); José Martinez (Ballet Dancer); Stéphane Bullion (Ballet Dancer); Dorothée Gilbert (Ballet Dancer); Paris Opera Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski; Michael Schmidtsdorff; Koen Kessels; Vello Pähn

Bringing together four seminal works, this attractive collection offers a perfect introduction to the world's oldest national ballet company.

Jewels
This alluring, abstract ballet, a triptych in which each piece sparkles with the brilliance of a precious stone, is a lyric tribute to women and to the cities of the great dance schools. Couturier, painter and craftsman Christian Lacroix created the glorious costumes and sets which, together with the outstanding performances of the dancers and the sensitive musical direction of Paul Connelly, result in a celebration of sumptuous splendour.

La Dame aux camélias
Based on the novel that also inspired the stories of Verdi's La Traviata and Hollywood's Moulin Rouge, Neumeier has created a riveting dance drama which unfolds ingeniously through love, passion and danger. Chopin's ravishing music combines with the lavish
production, filmed live at the Palais Garnier.

Prokofiev: Cinderella
Rudolf Nureyev's colourful, 'movie-star' production retains the classic Perrault story but sets it in America during the difficult years of the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s. Agnès Letestu stars as Cinderella who, living with her alcoholic father, tyrannical stepmother and two spiteful stepsisters, dreams of escape and stardom in Hollywood.

Swan Lake
Agnès Letestu, a feminine and warm Odette, and José Martinez, a convincing, pale, vulnerable prince Siegfried, are the stars of this deeply passionate, 'dream' version of Swan Lake. Rudolf Nureyev's interpretation of Tchaikovsky's lyrical ballet, far from being a clichéd stereotype of this celebrated masterpiece, is an exposé of astonishingly powerful and recognisable human emotions.

'A gem of dazzling brilliance.' (The Independent - Jewels)

'It is open to doubt whether even Balanchine has ever created a work in which the inspiration was so sustained, the invention so imaginative, or the concept so magnificent.' (The New York Times - Jewels)

'This production of Neumeier's ballet La Dame aux Camélias is a glorious achievement, beautifully captured on DVD under the expert direction of Thomas Grimm. It is also a traditional narrative ballet at its best: the romantic, tragic love story is eloquently told, the costumes are gorgeous, the dancers excellent, Chopin's music is luminous and Neumeier's choreography is as ever beautifully original yet purely classical in its discreet but stylish elegance. If you like the great classical ballets of the past, like Giselle or Swan Lake, if you love John Cranko's amazing story ballets, like Onegin or The Taming of the Shrew; then you will adore John Neumeier's La Dame aux Camélias. I simply loved it and would recommend it whether one is a hopeless romantic or not!' (Musicweb International)

'More than a traditional full-length ballet, Nureyev's Cinderella is a musical fantasy overflowing with vitality.' (Le Figaro)

'This Parisian Swan Lake offers the reworked choreography which Nureyev devised for his 1984 production of the ballet and which has remained a favoured recital ever since...Readers used to traditional views of the ballet should see this gripping newcomer.' (The Penguin Guide)