The Nederlands Dans Theater is one of Europe's most exciting ballet companies and many of its recent successes are due to its choreographer and Artistic Director, Jiri Kylian, who critics have hailed as a choreographic genius. This prize-winning recording of Kylian's "L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges" is a fantasy about a naughty child whose temper brings to life his surroundings. Ravel set to music a libretto by Colette, who originally devised the scenario as a remarkable combination of poetry, drama and dance, entitled "A Ballet for My Little Girl."

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After our performance, I was delighted to find the Netherlands Dance Theatre's ballet adaptation of this opera on DVD. All aspects of this DVD are first-rate -- dancing, singing, orchestra, costumes, and set design. The costumes are stunning. I was particularly impressed by the Fire, the Princess. and the Frogs! The dance interpretation was a perfect counterpoint to the singing. Now that I have seen the opera performed this way, it's difficult to imagine it being done better any other way, unless as a cartoon!

Maestro Slatkin told the audience before our concert that "L'enfant et les sortileges" was his favorite piece by Ravel, one that "shows the composer at the peak of his powers, in complete mastery of all facets of his art." I certainly grew to love the piece as we rehearsed and performed it. I'm thrilled to have this DVD in my collection. I know I will watch it countless times over the coming years.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Ravel's Magical take of Mundane Modernity as it Should Be ViewedMar 11, 2007
By Nathaniel K. Seelen
The Netherlands Dance Theater production takes a truly magnificent opera that is often hampered in performance by the imaginative story (a young boy refuses to do his homework and throws a terrible tantrum, breaking clocks, jumping on chairs, and pulling the tails of his two cats- the tables are turned as Maman leaves and the objects of his ire awaken to taunt and terrify the child!) and brings it to life. The orchestra and singing are marvelous and the dance amazingly well choreographed in both small-scale detail towards the score and long term action. I for one consider this the best version of L'Enfant et les Sortileges commercially available at present and it's certainly worth purchasing for any fan of 20th century Opera, ballet, or plain great shows.

Nice performance, but re-released 2010 for LESS $ and Extra MaterialAug 16, 2011
By D. Altschuler
Released with a Peter and the Wolf that I have not seen. It sells for a fraction of this OOP release.

essentialNov 10, 2008
By the real RD
If you are interested in Ravel, you should own this DVD. The production is first rate in every respect.

This work was originally conceived by Colette as a ballet, to which Ravel added the operatic element. Everyone on stage is a dancer in this production, which is choreographed in a contemporary idiom by Jiri Kylian (not Balanchine, the work's original choreographer). The singing that corresponds to the action on stage is sung from off stage in its original French. Subtitles are an option. It is therefore hard to categorize this as either an opera or dance DVD (it's really both). This production is made especially for video and is not simply a recording of a performance.

Kylian takes some time before the performance to introduce the work and his approach to it. The dancing is extremely sensitive to both the drama and the music.

4 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Excellent DVDMay 23, 2002
By Mark Obenauer "knowledge seeker"
I found this DVD highly entertaining: the music was beautiful and dancing was artistically attuned to the fairy tail story. I have never seen a production of this Ravel work. Too bad this beautiful work is not performed more often.

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