La Scala Raymonda DVD

[Beryl H]

If you liked Sergei Vikharev's reconstructions of La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia, this new DVD/BluRay of Raymonda is a treat, as well as being the first modern recording of this ballet. Vikharev has reinstated the original story, choreography and mime sequences, and looks very opulent, if old-fashioned, some of the costumes are hard to take, especially the men's, but I found if fascinating. La Scala are really stretched and need all their dancers and students plus some extras I imagine, but they all do very well, there are some lovely dances for children.

 

Olesia Novikova and Friedermann Vogel are Raymonda and Jean de Brienne, she has 6 solo's and 3 pdd, including a series of 30 entrechats landing on pointe, never seen that before!

[stucha]

Hi Beryl,

not sure what you mean by 'modern' but I take it that the Kirov Kolpakova recording and the Bolshoi Semenyaka/Mukhamedov recording don' t fall into that category.

I am not a fan of these reconstructions and this one is particularly meretricious. Surely we have to move on. But Novikova and Vogel are both excellent.

I think the Nureyev version for the Paris Opera ballet is very well reimagined. A DVD of the 2008 revival is supposedly being released, but I have the feeling that it is not going to happen. It was not very well coached and a pretty flat affair except for the 2 performances given by Maria Alexandrovna. Sadly these were not recorded. The production has now been deleted from the repertoire of POB.

The Grigorovich version will be in cinemas later this year live from the Bolshoi.

Edited April 21, 2012 by stucha

[Beryl H]

Hi Beryl,

not sure what you mean by 'modern' but I take it that the Kirov Kolpakova recording and the Bolshoi Semenyaka/Mukhamedov recording don' t fall into that category.

 

I have those versions, much prefer the Kirov performance to the Bolshoi, but the picture and sound quality on this Blu-Ray is so much more enjoyable, I feel as though I am at La Scala when I watch it!

 

 

I think the Nureyev version for the Paris Opera ballet is wonderful. A DVD of the 2008 revival is supposedly being released, but I have the feeling that it is not going to happen. It was not very well coached and a pretty flat affair except for the 2 performances given by Maria Alexandrovna. Sadly these were not recorded. The production has now been deleted from the repertoire of POB.

The Grigorovich version will be in cinemas later this year live from the Bolshoi.

 

I saw a Nureyev version in the late 1960's at the Apollo Victoria and loved it, I've never seen a live full length performance since, only his Act 3.

[greeksaki]

Living in New York, I saw a production of Raymonda by ABT. I believe it was based on the Finnish ballet version. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed by this production. It appears that 1/3 of the music was cut. I've seen the La Scala version on YouTube and was extremely pleased. The DVD is not available in the States yet, but when it comes out here, I'll be the first one to buy it. This is the definitive version of this ballet. I wonder if they will release their version of The Red Poppy on DVD? Would love to see it.