Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty / Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris, Vincent Cordier, Nathalie Quernet, Laurent Queval, Paris Opera Ballet
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Actor: Opera Bastille, Petipa, Rudolph Nureyev, TchaikovskyBrand: Kultur
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 149 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
DVD Reviews of Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty / Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris, Vincent Cordier, Nathalie Quernet, Laurent Queval, Paris Opera Ballet
DVD Review: A real Beauty, but with some reservations
Summary: 4 Stars
This production of Sleeping Beauty is in many ways very, very beautiful. First, the costumes and the sets. No expense was spared -- the whole production is truly wonderful to look at. The sets are colorful, lavish, and they really seem to replicate a royal court. The costums were impeccable -- stylish, elegant, and eyecatching. In the Vision Scene the corps wear lovely green tutus to symbolize the forest background. I thought it was beautiful. The only thing I object to is the ubiquitous white powder wigs in Aurora's Wedding. I know it's supposed to mirror the styles of the French royalty, but the wigs are still hideous.
The Paris Opera Ballet corps are also at their usual high level. They don't have the wonderful softness or grace of the Kirov corps, but they have that diamond-sharp precison that always takes my breath away. And their positions are always textbook perfect. As for the individual dancers, the quality of dancing is very high indeed. Not perfect though. The Fifth Variation Fairy for some reason becomes sort of sloppy, and seems to be a beat behind the music, which is really distracting because of the staccato arm movements which accompany the music. Manuel Legris as Prince Desire is an excellent technician (watch his pirouettes!) but for some reason he doesnt click with me as well as some of the other POB etoiles, like Nicholas LeRiche or Laurent Hilaire. Oh well. It's not Legris' fault, it's purely personal preference on my part. Aurelie Dupont as Aurora certainly is a beautiful classical dancer, in every way. She alone is worth the price of the dvd. Her Rose Adagio balances are excellent -- no wobbling whatsoever. She is one of the few Auroras who I'd say is equally great in the Rose Adagio, the Vision Scene, and the Wedding. Her regal bearing and sense of classical line, as well as her beauty, make her an almost ideal Aurora. I have only one (small) complaint: in the Wedding pas de deux, the famous fishdives look a bit cautious and thus don't have the "snap" that the best of them can have.
Nureyev's choreography is also in many ways very very good. A couple years ago the Kirov presented a "reconstructed" Sleeping Beauty that followed to the letter Petipa's notations for the 1890 production. That is a fascinating production, as it shows what was originally Petipa, and what's been added over the years. Nureyev's Sleeping Beauty, like most productions, is a mix of Petipa and post-Petipa. He has retained the original mime (especially from Carabosse and the Lilac Fairy) that the Soviet productions eschew. As a result Carabosse during the Prelude doesn't run around like a crazed lunatic, as she does in Soviet productions. Instead, she mimes Aurora's finger-pricking fate, which I find much more dramatically effective. Nureyev has also retained the fishdives during the Prince/Aurora wedding pas de deux that the Diaghilev added in the Ballet Russes' famed 1921 production of the Sleeping Beauty. I always love the fishdives, even if they weren't Petipa's idea. However, Nureyev follows the Soviet tradition of naming the Prince "Desire" instead of "Florimund." I've never understood the difference in names -- it's sort of like "Clara" vs. "Marie" in Nutcrackers. And always quirky, Nureyev added his own touches to the story. There's a nice comic moment for Carabosse -- when she comes onstage she rips the wig off a court attendant, exposing his bald head. Also, before Act 1, we can see a bunch of poor seamstresses being strongarmed into giving up their spindles and needles.
But Nureyev also made one change that I didn't like at all: he drastically reduced the role of the Lilac Fairy. It's ok (and historically accurate) that he makes the Lilac Fairy a non-dancing/mime role -- the Kirov's 1890 reconstruction has the Lilac Fairy as primarily a mime role. When the Lilac Fairy was on pointe traditionally she danced the sixth fairy variation in the Prologue. The traditional, famous Lilac Fairy variation (pirouette, developpe, pirouette again, developpe, and so on) in the prologue was a post-Petipa insertion, as it's nowhere to be found in the Kirov reconstruction. There is a sixth fairy variation, but that variation is much simpler than the "traditional" variation. Nureyev, however, gives the pirouette/developpe variation to the sixth fairy (Marie Agnes Gillot), who performs it with aplomb. Again, a mix of Petipa and post-Petipa.
But what really annoyed me is in Act 2, usually the Lilac Fairy guides the Prince and creates the vision of Aurora (the Vision Scene). Then the Lilac Fairy leads the Prince to the actual Aurora, accompanied by the Panorama music, which is some of the most beautiful music Tchaikovsky ever wrote. Well, Nureyev takes the away much of the Lilac Fairy's steps and instead has inserted into this music a very long (and IMO pointless) solo for Prince Desire, that uses the Panorama music. I can understand why he'd want to do this -- Nureyv always wanted to strengthen the male roles in ballets. But IMO the solo is way too long (a whole 7 minutes) and adds nothing to the story. It simply seems to be a showcase for the Prince. This is in contrast to the now very standard solo for Siegfried at the end of Act 1 in Swan Lake. That solo usually conveys Siegfried's ennui, which leads him to the lake. But this Sleeping Beauty solo -- what's the point? Manuel Legris (Prince Desire) dances well enough, but even he doesn't seem to understand the point of the solo. His face has this totally blank look, as if he was concentrating on remembering the steps. By concentrating so much on the solo, Nureyev reduces the importance of the Lilac Fairy, because we're so busy watching the pointless solo. So in this version, Prince sees Lilac for a minute, does a long dance, and then out come the corps and Aurora for the "Vision" scene. No sense of the Lilac Fairy guiding the Prince towards the Vision. The Lilac Fairy is in my opinion the most important character of the ballet -- it is her intervention that saves Aurora. She is the moral beacon in this triumph of good over evil. Nureyev, in his eagerness to give the Prince more dancing, undermines the overall life-affirming spirit of the Lilac Fairy, and also disturbs the musical patterns of this most symphonic ballet.
Another thing bugs: Nureyev eliminated the Little Red Riding Hood divertissement from Aurora's wedding. But this doesn't annoy me nearly as much as the gratuitous solo for Desire. The solo doesn't annoy me so much that I don't want to watch the ballet, but it does merit a one star deduction in an otherwise beautiful production.
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Description of Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty / Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris, Vincent Cordier, Nathalie Quernet, Laurent Queval, Paris Opera Ballet
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Choreographed and staged by Rudolf Nureyev after Marius Petipa. Restaged by Patricia RuanneThe Sleeping Beauty remains, as Rudolf Nureyev often called it, the ?ballet of ballets?. It is the most accomplished and the most brilliant, as well as one of the most spectacular of the 19th century, and the most representative of the ?noble? style of classical dancing. Rudolf Nureyev's version, which he created for the Opera Ballet in 1989, was recorded at the Opéra Bastille in 1999, in a new production (sets and costumes) created by his faithful collaborators, Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino, who had already produced Swan Lake, Romeo And Juliet And La Bayadère.
Princess Aurora: Aurélie Dupont
Prince Désiré: Manuel Legris
King Florestan: Vincent Cordier
The Queen: Nathalie Quernet
Catalabutte: Laurent Queval
The Lilac Fairy: Béatrice Martel
Carabosse: Nathalie Aubin
Princess Florina: Delphine Moussin
Bluebird: Benjamin Pech
Puss In Boots: Stéphane Elizabé
White Cat: Laetitia Pujol
Orchestre De L?Opéra National De Paris
Conductor: David Coleman. Sets: Ezio Frigerio. Costumes: Franca Squarciapino. Directed By Pierre Cavassilas.
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