Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 forgive me if there's another thread on top ballet recordings that I've overlooked, but I thought it would be interesting to see what folks' favourites are (not least because I'm always scouting for new gems).. So the rules are - on your desert island you have a 65 inch TV and bluray player, with a ready supply of monkeys on treadmills to power them, but you can only choose 5 recordings.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Quintus - what a briiliant topic. Do they have to be real recordings or ones that we would like to see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 and answering my own challenge.. 1. La Fille du Pharaon, Zakharova bluray. I got this a couple of months ago and it's already a firm favourite. Zakharova is just gorgeous in it and the quality is superb. 2. Swan Lake, Lopatkina bluray. There's no perfect SL recording out there as I like different bits of different productions, but this one is a good all rounder 3. Caravaggio, Staatsballett Berlin, Semionova/Malakhov, blurry. A curate's egg with some iffy corps choreography but Polina Semionova and Beatrice Knopp in particular are wonderful and the lighting is fantastic. 4. Giselle, hmmm, tough one as I like both the Alina Cojocaru bluray and the Zakharova DVD. I'll plump for Alina as I already have my Svetlana fix sorted. 5. Chroma/Limen/Infra triple bill ENB bluray - love this one and it has a cast of many familiar faces.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 Janet - they have to be real, available ones. I'm afraid you'll have to sit under a palm tree and just imagine your fantasy productions.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Good question! In no particular order: 1. RB's Romeo & Juliet with Lauren and Federico 2. RB's Giselle with Alina and Johan 3. Mariinsky Swan Lake with Uliana Lopatkina 4. RB's La Fille with Marianela and Carlos 5. - hoping it counts as a ballet DVD - the ENB Agony and Ecstasy series as I love behind the scenes and rehearsal footage and I love ENB but they never release their productions on dvd. If I can't have Agony and Ecstasy then RB's Sleeping Beauty please. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) anything with Miyako Yoshida in it (Nutcracker or Giselle or Rhapsody or Scenes de ballet for example) Balanchine mixed bill - Symphony in C, Serenade, Apollo, Jewels (especially Emeralds) McGregor triple - Chroma, Infra, Carbon Life MacMillan mixed - Requiem, Gloria, Concerto, Song of the Earth Ashton mixed - Scenes de ballet, Symphonic Variations, Monotones, Month in the Country, Rhapsody La fille mal gardee Giselle I know, I know - I've cheated! I'm sure you could squash those lists onto 1 blu-ray disc! ;-) Edited June 18, 2013 by zxDaveM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 oh - I've doubly cheated, as I made my disc contents up for the mixed bills.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Tut tut Dave! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 zxDaveM, for your cheating you are banished for a week to the adjacent island and compelled to watch X-Factor repeats! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 zxDaveM, for your cheating you are banished for a week to the adjacent island and compelled to watch X-Factor repeats! nnnn-nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! :-( 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 zxDaveM, for your cheating you are banished for a week to the adjacent island and compelled to watch X-Factor repeats! I'll have to cast an eye over my DVDs at home, and give a proper list then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) This is hard! Especially as I have a lot of recordings from TV that are not available publicly. But out of official DVDs I guess it will be 1. La Fille Mal Gardee (Acosta and Nunez although I like Collier and Wall too!) 2. BRBs Still life at Penguin Café 3. Northern Ballet s A Simple Man 4. Northern Ballet's Christmas Carol 5. The 1st compilation DVD by Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo! I like serious ballets too but figured I'd want to keep optimistic if on a desert island! Edited June 18, 2013 by hfbrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Love this so far Trouble is dont actually possess any Ballet DVD's. So will have to look at people's lists and pick from those....already seen one I want. Would love to have something with Diana Vishneva in. I don't suppose there is a DVD with a mixture of some of her more recent very modern works (I will have to check my Youtube favourite lists for name of modern work) with say Carmen on or R and J? Just in case someone knows off the top of their head! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marieve Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Watching this topic with interest as I don't have many ballet DVDs and am curious to see what everyone else rates most highly! LinMM I've got a DVD "Great Dancers Of Our Time" that includes the bedroom scene from Manon danced by Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Malakhov. It's in a studio, not taken from a performance. I came across the clip on YouTube and loved it so much that I had to find the DVD it was taken from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 It was really dificult to keep the numbers down to 5, but here goes, in no particular order: RB's Fille with Nunez-Acosta, POB's Bayadere, RB's Romeo and Juliet with Rojo-Acosta, Swan Lake with Nureyev-Fonteyn and (I think) the Vienna Opera ballet, RB's Giselle with Cojocaru-Kobborg. One of these would be dropped if a DVD of Onegin were to become available. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Oooh yes, a dvd of Nuñez and Soares in Onegin would be on my list. But perhaps we should have a separate thread for fantasy dvds. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Yes Diana in Macmillans version of R and J would be a dream though I do like the Leonid Lavrosky version. Also Diana would be my favourite Nikiya from Bayadere.....going to,have to,be an awful long DVD if combined with modern works like F.L.O.W!! Nureyev would have to be in there somewhere....is there a DVD of the original cast of Dances at a Gathering anybody know.....I mean original cast for Royal Ballet version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Forgot...Marieve have you seen the clip of Diana dancing with Shklyarov in R and J. Just trying to make decisions here whats wrong with the original number 8 Quintus?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Diana Vishneva also dances the Firebird on a DVD called The Kirov Celebrates Nijinsky. I like the Scala Raymonda, Bolshoi Flames of Paris, the RB McGregor triple bill, POB La Bayadere, the Dutch Don Quixote, that's 5 that I often watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Is there a DVD with Dances at a Gathering (with Nureyev and Lynne Seymour Lesley Collier et al) with Marguerite and Armand....Nureyev and Fonteyn on the other side or this fantasy land again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) 1) ABT Don Q with Baryshnikov (no-one quite does it like Misha) 2) RB R & J either Eagling and Ferri or Bonelli and Cuthbertson 3) RB Beauty with the divine Cojocaru 4) RB Manon with Penny/Dowell and Wall 5) RB Fille with Collier and Coleman (though I'd prefer Nerina if they ever release it on DVD!) 6) Can I have six - pretty please - ? RB Bayadere with Darcey Bussell and Asylmuratova or maybe Cinderella with Ashton and Helpman as the Uglies I remember in the days before videos (yes there was a time) when an amazing exhibition of the Royal Ballet and Opera companies was held at the Army and Navy Stores in the Strand. They showed clips from performances and one of them was of the Balcony Scene from R & J with Fonteyn and Nureyev. I think I just stood there and watched it over and over until they closed for the day! The entrance to the exhibition was going past a replica of the stage door keepers box into the wings at the side of the stage. It was incredible - they managed to duplicate the cold air at the side of the stge and that particular smell that the old theatres used to have. Edited June 18, 2013 by Dance*is*life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aruna S Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 5) RB Fille with Collier and Coleman (though I'd prefer Nerina if they ever release it on DVD!) There is a DVD with Nerina and Wall in Fille, I bought it from Amazon UK a few months ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Oooh yes, perhaps we should have a separate thread for fantasy dvds. :-) see my list above.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The Fountain of Bakhchisarai with Ulanova and Plisetskaya - a rare occasion when two assolutas are dancing together. Swan Lake - Fonteyn and Nureyev Romeo and Juliet - Fonteyn and Nureyev Scheherazade - Tsiskaridze Les Sylphides - Fonteyn and Nureyev Giselle - Alonso La Sylphide - Thesmar and Denard La Bayadere - Paris Opera Ballet Yes, I do know that is more than 5 - so sue me. Yes, I do actually have these DVD's. Yes, if you do insist on only 5 - I'll just sneak the others in. I'm old - give me a break. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 OK: Original cast Swansong (ENB - Koen Onzia, Matz Skoog, Kevin Richmond) NB - Christmas Carol (or R&J if it is ever released) BRB - Hobsons Choice Rambert - Ghost Dances RB - Penguin Cafe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Oh no seeing all these lists is making it impossible just as you're nearly there someone comes up with one you've forgotten....got to have Rambert in there too for all sorts of reasons....help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 OK: Original cast Swansong (ENB - Koen Onzia, Matz Skoog, Kevin Richmond) Ooh, yes. Is it available on DVD? I've got it on VHS. And can I take my own DVD/VHS player? Then I could get a second-hand video copy of the National Ballet of Canada's Onegin, which would solve one problem 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 I was originally going to say 3 DVDs only, but then I couldn't do my own challenge so I went soft! My other mean wrinkle was the huge TV - many of the older recordings, and YouTube clips, actually look distractingly poor quality on a big screen.. LinMM - There is a remarkable dearth of Diana Vishneva material available, other than isolated pdd etc on compilations. I did ask on her website and was pointed to a Japanese website that supposedly has a couple of full length performances on locally published discs - but it doesn't work properly when you click the 'in English' button, so that led nowhere. There was talk however of a DV Romeo and Juliet bluray coming out sometime this year. I really don't understand why this scarcity should be - she has a huge fan base that would surely buy up any release, so it seems like the production companies are missing a trick.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I would much rather be on a tropical isle than a desert isle......please. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 I never realised ballet watchers were such an unruly bunch! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Cor, yes - some of us are real wrong-uns.... ;-) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marieve Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Forgot...Marieve have you seen the clip of Diana dancing with Shklyarov in R and J. Just watched some of it on YouTube. Gorgeous She is such a beautiful dancer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Thanks so much afds - I have just ordered the Nerina/Blair Fille from Amazon! I shall look forward to wallowing in nostalgia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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