ninamargaret

48 minutes ago, alison said:

I'm wondering whether Stuttgart Ballet could be prevailed upon to release Initialen R.B.M.E. coupled with something else (Song of the Earth?  It's roughly the same length), but suspect there wouldn't be sufficient demand for "short" works, regardless of quality/significance.

I'd buy this,immediately! Although I'd love the Concerto for Flute and Harp to be included, I think this,and RBME were my favourites from  Stuttgart.

53 minutes ago, Irmgard said:

expect the version on Youtube is the Dutch National Ballet production by Wheeldon which was adapted (and enlarged!) for the Royal Albert Hall.  ENB performed Wheeldon's proscenium version at the start of their autumn (2019) tour.  

Thank you for this - now you tell me I remember that it was the,Dutch. I think the proscenium  version is rather better, although would happily ditch it for the Ashton.

I admit to finding the whole ballet slightly unsatisfying, a fact I put down to the difficulties of choreographing for such a large space, plus difficulties in actually filming it. Like Irmgard, I found Cojocaru somewhat underused, although what she was given to do she did beautifully as you would expect! I rather liked the four 'spirits ' or whatever, and thought they were cleverly employed as scenery/props changers when required. Certainly a clever way of dealing with the awkward space. I'm sure I saw another Cinderella by Wheeldon on You Tube which was rather different to this - was the ENB version done specially for the Albert Hall?

Nearly took me back to my childhood! This was one of the first ballets I saw,, but I doubt if whoever danced Belaye was as good as rhis!

I'm still intrigued by the apparent cut in Act 2. We did not get the appearance of Eric Underwood in his gold Elizabeth 1 outfit, although we did see him at curtain call. What happened?

have just watched Taiyo etc and agree with Bruce Wall. I had absolutely no idea what the second part was about, but what a pleasure to see the Stuttgart company. I've said in the past, of actors, that they could read the telephone directory and I'd be happy - not sure what the balletic version of this is but Stuttgart has it for me!

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40 minutes ago, capybara said:

I’ve had masses of reminders but I guess that my Vimeo sign in isn’t linked to the ROH system.  I think I can forgive them for that.

But I think that I’m still looking for the mega institution which is the ROH (and indeed the RB) to be more proactive and really showing itself to be a performing  arts leader.

Yes, I think considering the offerings we've had and enjoyed from other companies, both in this country and abroad, the RB hasn't shown itself in a very good light. The short pieces shown during the last three weeks, or the little excerpts on Facebook  have been the only items that have not already been issued as DVD s. I accept there are various copyright difficulties, but if other UK companies have managed to get round this why not the RB? 

Sylphide was, to my mind, pretty stunning! I admit to a particular weakness for it, and I was well rewarded by the performance. My only possible criticism is that Madge looked far too pretty to be a witch, but her performance was excellent. I followed it by watching Balamouk - a very good double bill and certainly one that I don't think I'd ever see at the ROH, even under the best circumstances!

11 hours ago, alison said:

Oh well, I had to watch my 4:3 copy recorded off the telly.  I'd been hoping to see it properly in 16:9 format, but there you go.

Can you adjust the format on your tv? I've got an old DVD transferred from an old video where the lead male dancer (no names mentioned) looks extremely chubby! I altered the format and he slimmed down immediately.

I've enjoyed the shorter ballets more, probably because they've been easier to fit in with all the other things on offer. My main enjoyment has been the chance to see other companies, particularly Stuttgart, Hamburg, SFB, NYCB. I really hope that in the future we get more opportunities to see streamed performances, I wouldn't mind paying for this. 

On a rather different note, just before lock down started I embarked on playing my complete set of the Haydn symphonies -all 104 of them - and finish today! Another highly enjoyable experience!

I watched Woolf Works and was intrigued by the ending to part 2. There were none of the extreme lighting effects, and we did not have the appearance of Eric Underwood in his gold Elizabeth 1 outfit, although he did appear for the curtain call wearing it. Was this scene cut for some performances, or maybe the televised one?

Had no problems at all this time, and they even mention using a Fire stick. Both pas de deux were absolutely beautiful, although something happened to my connection just before the end of Concerto. But it really made me realise what I've been missing. 

I agree with your comments Lizbie1, but there were so many comments

 on the web site from people who had been unable to access it, I suspect many from people who had thought it a good way to see something from the ROH, and had thought that it was just a matter of paying their £4.99 , receiving their link and settling down for a good evening. Some were even asking for their money back.. They might not be as understanding or forgiving as Forum members!

22 minutes ago, alison said:

I shall be interested, having bought a spare HDMI cable, to see whether I can stream Saturday's programme to a dumb TV ...

Good luck!  please let me know. At the moment I'm feeling that it's a case of the ROH making things as complicated as possible!

I see that the ROH web site now states clearly that their live programmes cannot be accessed by streaming from a smart tv. To view, it is necessary to either a phone, tablet or pc and connect to the tv. As a slightly technologically challenged,lady I am unwilling to disconnect items connected to my HDMI ports, buy the correct connection lead, and then have to reconnect and  re set up the connections for my Fire stick and DVD player. I've been happily watching streamed programmes and think the ROH could have come up with something simpler.

I enjoyed this,as well. For my money, Cojocaru is near to Jennifer Penny - every emotion showed, and it goes without saying that it was so beautifully danced. I liked Joseph Caley, for me he didn't quite have the charisma of Bonelli or Campbell, but he is a very strong partner and I can offer no criticism other than personal preference. Where I must disagree with Jan is the production. I remember watching the Danish production a couple of years ago and saying I didn't like it and being told by Jan slightly gleefully that it was the version used by ENB, so at least I had been warned! A case of you pays your money and takes your choice!

57 minutes ago, alison said:

Can you still not view it, then, ninamargaret?  I'd assumed you were only talking about viewing it live.

yes, I managed in the end. Then got halfway through the Mahler, decided I'd rather watch Muntagirov again and cannot slide along to either the beginning of the end! I notice there have been over 600 comments on the web page, a large number with similar or worse problems and some very annoyed at paying and being unable to see.

I don't mind the £4.99 -  it's very good value, but I do mind not being able to watch. I've been unable to watch any of the Dutch National Ballet screenings unless they are in You Tube, but at least I'm not paying for them! I think the main annoyance with the ROH is that when you pay you are sent what appears to be a perfectly normal website link and you then can't access the programme on certain systems. Vimeo does list which systems it works on but this is not readily available until you've paid your fiver!

Reminds me of the time when I contacted a local councillor to complain about the lack of support for the arts in our borough. She replied that we had a very good mother and baby art group and seemed surprised when I laughed.

sorry to have raised some hackles by mentioning The Times article, which I think,although I found his brief mention of the ballet somewhat dismissive, was a fair review of the concert as a whole. Maybe I would have enthused about the Dance if I hadn't had such problems first being unable to access it, then joining it in the middle and then not being able to get back to the beginning.

I wonder if the ROH will take any notice of the very reasonable comments made in the Dance Tabs review, also The Times. And they might also like to take note of the difficulties people have had in watching the programme - I was by no means the only disgruntled ticket holder!

What a pity that the fine performances of both items has been more or less,swamped by the technical muddled and poor presentation by the announcer. I think the Opera House could have,done better.

Although I'd logged in earlier I got a message telling me I was barred from watching it! By the time I had logged in again we were halfway through the Gluck. The rest of the programme suffered from many little breaks - missed the odd bar or so. Tried to watch about half an hour ago and it stopped in the middle of the Gluck and won't replay any more. Will n go to bed in disgust.

9 minutes ago, MrsBBB said:

Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich started having a very small audience of 50 in the house this Monday at their live streamed weekly Monday concert (available to view free on demand here: https://www.staatsoper.de/tv.html ). There are two more concerts this season, on 22 and 29 June. They usually include a brief segment of ballet solos or pdd to recorded music as well as chamber music performed by members of the orchestra and vocal performances by opera singers.

Have been enjoying their weekly offerings (in varying degrees!). 

Sorry Richard LH - feeling particularly gloomy today!