| | |  | Ethnic & Regional Dances | Home » » » The Kirov Celebrates Nijinsky / Sheherazade, La Spectre de la Rose, The Polovtsian Dances, The Firebird | | | | | | | Description: | | From the Theatre Musical de Paris - Chatelet; the Kirov Ballet salutes Nijinsky. Sheherazade with Svetlana Zakharova, Faruk Ruzimatov, Vladimir Ponomarev. Music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Libretto by Leon Bakst, Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Le Spectre de la Rose with Zhana Ayupova and Igor Kolb, Music by Carl von Weber, Orchestration by Hector Berlioz, Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. The Polovtsian Dances with Islom Baimuradov and Polina Rassadina, Music by Alexander Borodin, Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Firebird with Diana Vishneva and Andrei Yakovlev, Music by Igor Stravinsky, Choreography and Libretto by Mikhail Fokine. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Svetlana Zakharova, Farukh Ruzimatov, Zhanna Ayupova, Igor Kolb, Islom Baimuradov | | Format:
| Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Kultur Video | | Run Time:
| 110 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| February 08, 2005 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 17 reviews |
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more film lighting,instead of stage lighting would have made this d.v.d much better . one star for the lighting director.Mar 11, 2010
film lighting ,instead of ordinary stage lighting,would have made this d.v.d.,more saleable.enjoyable for the the rarity of the recorded balletsr,spoiled by the amateur production.
 A common man's point of view.Feb 12, 2009
If you only ordered this DVD to get "Firebird", you would get your money's worth. However, the other three ballets are bonuses worthy of your time and money also. The ballets on this disc, in the order they appear in the program are: Sheherazade,w/music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Le Spectre de La Rose w/music of Carl Maria Von Weber, Polovtsian Dances, w/music of Alexander Borodin, and Firebird, w/music of Igor Stravinsky. All of the music is spectacular, but Firebird is a cut above.
Diana Vishneva is a fabulous Firebird, with great jumping and turning ability, typical of the Russian ballerinas, and her partner Andrei Yakovlev, is very good also, but his dancing is limited to supporting his partner. Besides, he would have had trouble dancing in the costume they had him in. I think that if he had grasped a real bird by the tail-feathers as he did his Firebird, she would have just pulled out her tail-feathers as she struggled to get away. I caught a little bird once on my enclosed porch, (I was afraid it would break it's neck flying into the windows), so I held it by it's tail-feathers as I was trying to release it, and it pulled ALL it's tail-feathers out as it struggled to get away. It was able to fly w/o It's tail-feathers, however. Our Firebird did not pull out her tail-feathers until she was ready to give one to her captor in exchange for her release. A very magical feather it is too, for when our hero is about to be turned into stone by the magic of the evil sorcerer Kotchei (sometimes spelled Kashchey), he uses it to call the Firebird to his rescue. Some of you have never seen this ballet, (I had not when I first bought it) so, take the plunge and get it to view over and over. If you really love FIREBIRD, for heavens sake, get the Royal Ballet version also, w/Leanne Benjamin....Stravinsky - The Firebird & Les Noces / Royal Ballet....It's even better than this one (IMO). Read my review on it.
The best thing about Sheherazade is it's music. The story concerns an orgy, plain and simple. Of course, this is an orgy your children can watch. An Arabian Sultan, Shakhriar, has a harem, and I suppose his favorite concubine is Zabeida, whom he suspects is unfaithful to him. So, he fakes a hunting trip and goes off leaving his harem to the safe keeping of a comical eunuch, who is tricked into giving up the keys of the harem to the concubines, who in turn unlock the doors to allow their lovers inside to.....well you know what. The Sultan returns to find the orgy, and kills everyone. But, to hear the beautiful music you have to put up with a 20 to 30 murders, and one suicide. Not too much to ask, is it?
Le Spectre de La Rose is the story of a girl who dreams. She falls asleep with a rose in her hand, and dreams of a ghost who enters through a window looking all rose colored, and dances with her until she awakens, then he jumps through the window through which he entered. The music is Von Weber's, "Invitation to the Dance", which is his claim to fame. The story is believable, because remember, the only entertainment in years past was dancing and other musical galas, so she could have gone to a dance and dreamed about it later. It's a very nice short ballet.
Polovtsian Dances includes a vocal by a Russian speaking chorus of very good voices. Of course a ballet is the main feature, with music by Borodin. The beautiful music inspired the once popular song "Stranger in Paradise", back when songs used to make sense. This is also a short ballet worth having. For pure listening pleasure, this is as good as music gets. It's right up there with Tchaikovsky for me.
Hey, would you be interested in hearing another fabulous Russian chorus? Buy the opera SADKO by Rimsky-Korsakov. It has an aria by a tenor that is so utterly beautiful you might cry when you hear it. It's called THE SONG OF INDIA sung by "the indian guest". The dancing girls he brings with him aren't hard to look at either.....Rimsky-Korsakov - Sadko / Vladimir Galouzine, Gegam Grigorian, Sergei Alexashkin, Larissa Diadkova, Nikolai Putilin, Valery Gergiev, Kirov Opera
The Kirov celebrates Nijinsky/ Sheherazade, La Spectre de la Rose The Poloytsian Dances, The FirebirdJan 21, 2009
Sheherazade is the sort of ballet that influenced fashion at Pre World War I in that era.It was extremely popular then in all the most fashionable cities in europe at the time even the aristocracy was facinated by this ballet and the fashions that "came out" of it for women then.I enjoyed all of the ballets that are on this cd a great deal including the fire bird.The movments,the way that everything was done .I'm not an expert at this sort of thing but I enjoyed it thoroughly!
 10 minutes of it is 5-star material for fanatics of Russian ballet. But otherwise...Nov 26, 2008
The comments of reviewer {P. Burdick "pataburd2"} to this DVD is very realistic...for one who doesn't dance or watch ballet that much. So if all you want to see of ballet is white tutus, pointe shoes, and red lipstick, DO take Mr. Burdick's review into consideration... However, if you are a balletomane, do not take it too seriously (just in case you didn't notice from reading it yourself) I'm sorry, but he doesn't sound like one who is a "classical ballet lover." I myself did not find this DVD that great, but on different parameters. For credibility: I dance ballet 6 days/week, want to become professional, have never gone on youtube to watch anything other than ballet, and own about (sadly, only) 50 ballet DVDs.
Shcheherazade was a very good example of the current styles and dancers of the Russian ballet. Zakharova and Ruzimatov are some of the most famous dancers in the world, and here they were wonderful. By the way, Nijinsky IS being celebrated here, because this was one of the ballets he was known for.
Le Spectre de la Rosa was not that exciting, but worth comparing to all the other performances of this same ballet on youtube. For those who might have been outraged by femininity of the male Rose, that's the point! Nijinsky was a notoriously baudy homosexual dancer.
Polovstian Dances will be very boring if, like me, you are NOT too fond of opera and you DO favor pointe-work or soaring grande jetes. I've tried several times watching this part of the DVD attentively, but I always end up fast-forwarding. Sorry, I can't give a good review here. There just wasn't enough dancing here...
Firebird was OK. Like Spectre, the pas de deux featuring Vishneva here is interesting in comparing to others. Staging and costumes are beautiful, and probably very true to the original. But other than the pas de deux, nothing amazing in the dancing.
So overall, I'd say this DVD is worth it for Zakharova and Ruzimatov fans like me. But unless you are NOT entranced by her and enraptured by him every time, or are very interested in ballet history/staging/costumes, beware that you may end up wasting your money.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Lovely.Apr 05, 2008
I purchased this DVD with excitement to see Svetlana Zakharova's performance as I am a loyal and devoted fan, and this video does not disappoint! Svetlana is truly amazing. I must admit though, (and I truly hate to admit this) i think the costume choice for her was a bad one. I found myself focused on her ribs showcasing themselves every time she moved, as she is one of our more delicate beauties of ballet. "Le Spectre De La Rose is a little dull in my opinion, but the celebration glo's with talent in the other performances. Vishneva is a lovely "Firebird". I would've liked more emotion from her, but her beautiful extensions, and striking beauty more than make up for it. This DVD is a ruby to add to any collection of gems!!!
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