Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet
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Actor: Elisabeth Platel, Isabelle Guerin, Laurent Hilaire, Minkus, NureyevBrand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 133 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-07-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet
DVD Review: Rudolf Nureyev's Last Offering to the World - the exotic "La Bayadere"
Summary: 5 Stars
"La Bayadere" was first presented at the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre by the Czar's Imperial Ballet (today the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet) on January 23, 1877. It was the creation of Marius Petipa, the unrivled Maitre de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet. "La Bayadere" became a classic among the great ballets of the 19th century and a useful vehicle for all the great ballerinas of the day. Petipa revised the ballet in 1884 for the ballerina Anna Johansson, and for the last time in 1900 for the Imperial Prima Ballerina Mathilde Kschessinskaya and for the benefit of the Premiere Danseur Noble Pavel Gerdt. For this 1900 revival Petipa completely refurbished with a new staging and fresh choreography. The ballet lived on for over 25 more years before it fell out of active the repertoire after the revolution. In 1941, the Ballet Master Vladimir Ponomarev and the great Danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani presented a new version of "La Bayadere" based on Petipa's last revival of 1900. It is this version that has lived on to the present day at the Mariinksy Theatre, and that Rudolf Nureyev, the greatest dancer of his generation, learned when he danced there. Interestingly enough "La Bayadere" was the last ballet Nureyev danced with the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet before he defected from the Soviet Union in 1961 while on tour with the company in France. In 1963 Nureyev staged Petipa's masterful 'Grand Pas Classique' from "La Bayadere" known as "The Kingdom of the Shades". This was the first of many stagings from the Petipa repertoire that Nureyev would go on to stage in the west, but it was not untill 3 months before his death in 1993 that his version of the full-length "La Bayadere" premiered, danced by the Paris Opera Ballet where he had been Artistic Director since 1983.
Nureyev's production of "La Bayadere" is absolutly magnificent. He called upon his close friend Ninel Kurgapkina, former Ballerina and now teacher/coach of the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet to assist him with the production. Their staging of "La Bayadere" follows the 1941 Soviet revival of Ponomareyev and Chabukiani almost exactly, with changes being very few (among these changes was the revision of dances for the female corps de ballet, along with making the male corps de ballet more prominent).
This production of "La Bayadere" is a lavish dream of the ancient southern Orient seen through 19th century European Eyes. The spectacular decor, designed by Ezio Frigerio, strays far away from the typical painted-backcloth-type sets of most ballet productions and instead, gives the Paris Opera Ballet sets to dance among - the design of the stage decor will take your breath away, as it looks very much like a priceless brazen antique - the wings and the top sides of the stage are decorated with paintings of palm trees and the like, the palace of the Maharajah in Act I/Scene 2 and in Act II pays obvious homage to the Taj Mahal, and it is glorious to see "The Kingdom of the Shades" scene danced in the jungle. The costumes, designed by Franca Squarciapino match the decor absolutly, and in the same regard take inspiration from the Indian Orient. The one thing that spoils the effect of the wonderful decor is the stage floor, which is covered with light gray marley and sealed off with rows of white tape stretching from the footlights on upstage, obviously put there to keep the dancers in perfect rows (as it does - one will never see the Kirov/Mariinky or the Bolshoi in need of such stage markers).
On the DVD liner notes, and in the credits, the music is credited as being re-orchestrated by John Lanchbery (conductor and musical director for the Royal Opera House for many years). In his past productions, Nureyev had called upon Lanchbery to revise/re-orchestrate the scores of Minkus, but unlike Lanchbery's severe revisions of the Minkus scores for Nureyev's revivals of such ballets as "Don Quixote", the "Paquita" Grand pas Classique, as well as Natalia Makarova's stagings of "La Bayadere", he has thankfully only altered a few brief passages - these changes are so minute that one wonders why it was even necessary to have Lanchbery do anything to the score in the first place, as only a person 100% familiar with the original Minkus score inside and out can make out the differences. Thankfully the score of "La Bayadere" is presented here as it Minkus originally orchestrated it (with the exception of the few changes Lanchbery did), a rare treat in the west (most everyone in the ballet world finds the Lanchbery revisions of Minkus's music to be horrific anyway). The scintillating and beautifully melodious music of Minkus sparkles in the hands of the conductor Michel Queval, making the look and feel of the ballet succeed even more. One should never judge Minkus's music for symphonic substance, but instead for its theatrical effectiveness, and even more so for the fact that the music completely accents the movements of classical ballet, and accompanies the dramatic scenes perfectly. (Note - See CD Decca 436 917-2 for the score of "La Bayadere" as re-orchestrated/revised by John Lanchbery for Natalia Makarova's staging for American Ballet Theatre in 1980. This recording is performed by the English Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Richard Bonynge)
For this performance, the leading roles are danced by Isabelle Guerin as Nikiya, Elisabeth Platel as Gamzatti, and Laurent Hilare as Solor. As with most of the ballerinas that have been coming out of the Paris Opera Ballet lately (with the exception of Aurelie Dupont and Emanna Floria of course), the leading danseuses in this film are good, but they are far from being great, and give performances that are very neutral and plain. Isabelle Guerin gives a worthy portrayl of Nikiya in this performance, though her acting is rather cardboard and docile - in the dramatic scenes the woman almost seems indifferent. On the plus side her dancing in the Act I/Scene 1 'Variation of Nikiya', and especially in "The Kingdom of the Shades" is excellent technically (the greatest interpretation on film is without a doubt Altynai Assylmoratova of the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet as danced in the Royal Ballet film of "La Bayadere"). Elisabeth Platel gives a good portrayl of Gamzatti as a character, but her dancing is very poor - I must say that her variation in the 'Grand Pas Classique' of Act II is absolutly shameful (some reviewers below give her much praise - they either know little about good ballet dancing or they need their eyes checked!). Laurent Hilaire gives a wonderful portrayl of Solor, with strong partnering of both ballerinas and elegant dancing in his variations, not to mention his great entrance in the Grand Procession at the start of Act II atop a pointy-eared elephant on wheels. Wilfred Romoli gives a graceful and elequant performance as the Golden Idol, though he lacks the "pazzaz" one should have when dancing the 'Bazhok' as it is known in Russia, while Sandrine Marache is charming and lovely in the 'Danse Manu' (doing a great job of keeping the water jug balanced on her head). The 3 Shades variations in "The Kingdom of the Shades" scene are perhaps the biggest dissapointment of all in this entire performance. Agnes Letestu, Clotilde Vayer, and Nathalie Rique do the honors here, complete with really stupid smiles on their faces that have absolutly no business among the magnificent courtly opulace of "The Kingdom of the Shades". For some reason what is supposed to be the last variation gets performed first, danced by Agnes Letestu (complete with her ridiculous smile). She does the best job out of the 3, suprising considering her terrible performance in the Paris Opera Ballet's "Paquita" film. Clotilde Vayer dances the next variation (which is really supposed to be the first one) and does an awful, boring job, again with a ridiculous grin on her face. For some reason towards the end of Vayer's variation the camera cuts off her performance and instead gives us a shot of the corps de ballet dancers feet, perhaps because Vayer's arabasque releve-elance's, which are supposed to be traveling on the diagnale but aren't, dont look so good. The last variation (which is supposed to be the second one) is danced by Nathalie Rique. She demonstrates how a ballerina can dance well but have absolutly no spark, and again we have a ridiculously out-of-place smile that warrants a good wack across the face. The Corps de Ballet does well, but its obvious that the rows of tape on the stage floor are responsible for their perfect, straight lines (watch the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet dance this scene in their film of "La Bayadere", and on another film called "The Kirov Ballet in London" to see true Corps de Ballet perfection un-aided by a taped up stage floor).
This staging of "La Bayadere" is perhaps the greatest version available on film regarding production (sets, costumes, etc.), even more so than Natalia Makarova's sandwiched versions for American Ballet Theatre (in 1980) and for the Royal Ballet (in 1990). In 2001, the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet (the former Imperial Ballet) presented "La Bayadere" in a reconstruction of Petipa's last revival of 1900. Using the Stepanov choreographic notation and other sources included in the Sergeyev Collection housed at the Harvard University Library and from their own archives, the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet completely restored the choreography, sets, costumes, and the mime sequences to their original form (one reviewer on this page says that the original choreography of "La Bayadere" is lost, which is not true, as it was notated by Petipa's regisseur Nikolai Sergeyev and his assistants around the time of the Ballet Master's 1900 revival). The original Minkus score was restored from the composer's orignal hand-written manuscript, and what a wonderful masterpeice of ballet music it is. Let us hope that this reconstruction of "La Bayadere" doesnt stay to long from DVD/video, just as the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet's 1999 reconstruction of the 1890 premiere of "The Sleeping Beauty" has. It would be a great disservice to the world of ballet....but given the ridiculous politics of the current Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet, it is likely niether production will ever find its way to DVD/video. Such a waste.
The Paris Opera Ballet has been releasing quite alot of their repertoire onto DVD over the last few years. I would never go so far as to say that they are the greatest company in the world, but they are exceptional. Unfortunatly many people feel that ballet dancing cant get any better than what they see in these Paris Opera performances - dont ever let good productions and great costumes fool you! If you want to see great ballet dancing, watch American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi, and especially the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet, which is without a doubt the greatest company in the world.
Nureyev's production of "La Bayadere" is more than just a ballet -it was Nureyev's last offering to the world before he passed away in 1993. But aside from that, this production is a resplendant grand spectacle in the tradition of the old 19th century 'Grand Ballets', and it echos the love and passion that Nureyev felt for the art of classical ballet - it is Nureyev's greatest staging of a ballet from the Classical Repertoire, and I think the old Maestro Petipa would have been proud.
Description of Minkus - La Bayadere / Guerin, Hilaire, Platel, Paris Ballet
Exotic and mysterious India serves as the backdrop to this story of doomed love between the warrior Solor and the bayadère, Nikiya, who is killed by her jealous rival, Gamzatti. Breathtaking sets and costumes are designed by Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino in this exceptional production, recorded at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Direction and choreography in this fully restored version of Petipa's original ballet are by Rudolf Nureyev. Stars Isabelle Guérin, Laurent Hilaire, and Élisabeth Platel.Classical Music CDs
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