Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / Makarova, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden
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DVD details
Actor: Anthony Dowell, Natalia MakarovaBrand: Swan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / Makarova, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden
DVD Review: Still the definitive "Swan Lake" - on video
Summary: 5 Stars
I have watched many live and video performances of this ballet and this is the one version I find myself returning to time and time again. There is something so dramatically compelling about the way Makarova and Dowell interpret their roles that my attention is held in a way that perhaps more technically proficient renderings of the roles could not. Makarova and Dowell in the leads are ultimately the most satisfying interpretations I have yet witnessed.
Makarova's dancing is a wonder to behold; her magisterial, liquid adagio dancing in the Act II grand pas deux was of course, a given. Makarova's dancing was possessed of a unique physicality, a way of moving that made it seem as though her arms and legs were radiating a plush and limitless stretch. One could almost see an energy field originating from the centre of her body and pulsing out through her arms and legs and emanating far beyond her head, hands and feet. There seemed to be a mysterious and boundless stretch to Makarova. Baryshnikov too, had this "mysterious stretch" in his dancing. And Makarova's hands, what magical and bewitching worlds can be conjured from a pair expressive arms and hands! Watch, at the coda of Act II when Makarova's Odette runs towards Dowell's Siegfried, and is caught in his arms and lifted high above his head. With a ripple of her arms, the well-timed arch of her back, neck and head, one could almost believe Odette would take flight right then. The moment is breathtaking and for that moment, time might as well have stopped.
What has continued to surprise me is Makarova's Odile. In this act Makarova, physically, becomes a whole other creature. The same lambent grace is still there, the same palpable and mysterious stretch, but now her edges have sharpened and her dancing has taken on a hard, cold, obdurate quality. I will never forget her baleful expression when she first turns towards Prince Siegfried to present her hand for the very first time. This moment marks the beginning of the Act III "Black Swan" grand pas de deux, and what a spellbinding moment it is. The whole ballroom now shines with a hectic glitter and now begins the ultimate dance of deception.
Unshakable bravura was never a hallmark of Makarova's dancing and I could quibble about her indifferent fouettes. I prefer instead to revel in the splendour of her dramatic interpretation. From start to finish, Makarova's Odile is a textbook example of how to enchant a Prince and an audience into believing completely, an evil magician's deception. Even as Makarova negotiates Odile's treacherous choreography, her conviction and her hold on her dramatic portrayal is so unwavering that by the end, the Prince is utterly destroyed. Makarova's Odile is so convincing that at the end of the pas de deux, the audience finds itself on its feet applauding not a ballerina, but for the total triumph of von Rothbart's diabolical creation. As an aside, Makarova's pique/chaine turns at the end of her solo are so fleet and so delicious that I never again want to see another dancer stumping her way through this same variation.
I make special mention of Sir Fredrick Ashton's choreography in Act IV. There's a particularly lovely and effective sequence where in small groups, Odette ushers away her swan sisters and returns to a kneeling Siegfried, bends down slowly and deeply into an arabesque penche and bestows her forgiveness for Siegfried's unwitting betrayal. Almost no one does this "forgiveness and reconciliation" scene anymore.
The overall production values of the Royal Ballet's "Swan Lake" are somewhat inconsistent, the stage sets and costumes look like they were taken out of cold storage and the dancing of the corps de ballet could benefit from a more pliant use of the back and arms.
Natalia Makarova and Anthony Dowell's dancing are of a kind that informs an age. I search in vain for a young Makarova or a young Baryshnikov that would bring the same magic and transcendent artistry from which their legends were made.
Description of Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / Makarova, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden
It is difficult to believe today that Swan Lake was a failure on its production in 1877 and was not successful until the Petipa/Ivanov version of 1895. Today it is regarded as one of the greatest works in the art of ballet. The magic of Tchaikovsky?s music, embodying the love of Prince Siegfried for the enchanted Swan Queen, has greatly contributed to making this the best loved of all classical ballets. This production, with designs by the late Leslie Hurry, stars Natalia Makarova as Odette-Odile and Anthony Dowell as Prince Siegfried. Prince Siegfried celebrates his twenty-first birthday; his mother tells him it is time to marry, but he prefers to go hunting. Alone, by a lakeside, he sees a swan who turns to human form. She is an enchanted princess who can be saved only by true love. He promises this, but is tricked by the wicked magician who disguises his own daughter as the swan-maiden. In despair, Siegfried and the swan-maiden leap to death together and their sacrifice destroys the evil power.Classical Music CDs
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