Kirov ‘Swan Lake’ Reviews all Kirov Reviews Lopatkina in reviews Zelensky in reviews

Unfortunately, there was a Beijing International Music Festival, and some great artists, including Martha Argerich, Maisky and Fou Ts'ong, came to give recitals or concerts here. For me, Martha Argerich and Fou Ts'ong are the pianists that I can never miss. So, I decided to forego most of the Kirov performances in Beijing and go to Shanghai to see them later.

So, the only Kirov show I saw in Beijing (I saw their first dress rehearsal on Nov 3 though). was the last one on Nov 7, with Uliana Lopatkina as Odette/ Odile and Igor Zelensky as the prince. The Chinese President attended that performance as well.

The Kirov had promised to send us its "best cast for Swan Lake", but shortly before its China Tour, Faroukh Ruzimatov and Yulia Makhalina suddenly became "injured" and unable to come, and then their partners Svetlana Zakharova and Danila Korsuntsev, withdrew as well. The Kirov sent us Irma Nioradze and Victor Baranov as substitutes.

So, we had 3 swans: Uliana Lopatkina, Irma Nioradze and Veronika Part and 3 princes: Igor Zelensky, Victor Baranov and Ilya Kuznetsov.

In Shanghai, Igor Zelensky was on stage on the first (with Irma Nioradze) and second (with Uliana Lopatkina) nights. He was the best prince of the 3. As the Kirov's best male, he did what he had been expected to do, but nothing more. (When I saw V. Malakhov with J. Kent/ ABT at the Met, New York a few years ago, he was not an emotional prince either. So, I think some Russian superstars must have lost their interest in this classical piece). Anyway, in this Kirov version, the prince doesn't dance a lot.

The Jester has to dance more, and fortunately we had Kiril Simonov for most of the performances. He was a very nice dancer and did a much better job than Anton Lukovkin, another jester who appeared only once in a matinee performance on the last day in Shanghai. Nikolai Godunov was a pretty good Rothbart.

I didn't expect a lot from Ilya Kuznetsov, because when I saw him in the first dress rehearsal in Beijing, it seemed to me that he had gained weight since last year. (He came to Beijing with some Kirov dancers, and did a R&J pdd with Zhanna Ayupova then) and was quite heavy on his feet. But this tall, princly dancer was not that bad in the actual performance. I do think if he lost some weight, he will be able to dance better and possibly become another Andris Liepa in the future. (By the way, when a female journalist asked him at the press conference which between Odette and Odile.he preferred in his real life, he immediately responded: I want both!).

To my surprise, Victor Baranov was less good than Kuznetsov in the prince's solos (at least I think so); he always had some trouble on landing. But he was apparently a better partner for Irma Nioradze.

Uliana Lopatkina was an excellent swan with pure Russian classical style (or as we say, full of the Charm of Kirov). She looked so helpless in Act 2 and showed the "mysterious temptation" (as she said at the press conference) in Act 3. She is technically not very strong, but can express her feeling thoroughly by her body language. For me, Nina Ananiashvili still remains the most brilliant and attractive Black Swan in the world. (When I saw her ‘Swan Lake’ with ABT a few years ago, everybody at the Met -it was ABT's Met season - was astonished at her speedy turns and amazing dancing in Act 3). But Uliana Lopatkina is almost the best and most outstanding white swan I have ever seen.

Nioradze has her own merits though she is by no means a super star. Her Black pdd in Act 3 was the most difficult one among the 3. She did 3 balances (I mean Arabesque or Ecarte etc.on pointe without support. But I don't exactly remember what she did, because when she was partnered by Igor, she did only one Balance, and it was not very successful) and some double turns in fouette.

But her Black Swan was too tough for my taste. Veronica Part was a tall, beautiful dancer, better as Odile than Odette. As a young dancer, she still has some technical problems (I hope she will work harder to improve her turning technique and artistic presentation), but she showed us some beautiful movements in her black swan variation. Her well-extended legs were particularly beautiful and impressive.

From the first dress rehearsal in Beijing, Nikita Sheglov, who appeared as one of the friends of the prince in Act 1, impressed us a lot. Actually, he was technically better than Ilya Kuznetsov (the prince). Irina Zhelonkina (another friend of the prince in Act 1) was also a nice dancer.

The Swan Corps was very nice and looked so beautiful, especially from the upstairs seat. (I was there on the last day). And the national dances in Act 3 were equally wonderful. We enjoyed the speedy Mazurka very much.

The Shanghai Grand Theatre is a nice theatre indeed. But the audience in Shanghai is not as good as its theatre, because its reaction to the stage is too cool. No matter how great the performance is, the audience only gives some polite applause (no Bravi, of course). On the second night (of Kirov Ballet), when I shouted "Bravo Igor" after the Act3 male variation (my seat was very close to the stage: only 3 rows from the conductor), the man sitting next to me said: "Don't you feel tired? You have shouted too much. Look, no one in this theatre shouts like you.".

Theatres in Beijing are basically worse than Shanghai, but I like the Beijing audience more. They really like ballet and enthusiastically applaud (or even scream) for any great scenes. There are more than 2700 seats in the Beijing Exhibition Centre Theatre and tickets for the Kirov were very expensive (the price of a VIP seat was higher than local average monthly income). But I heard that the Kirov tickets sold very well. (Even tickets for the third performance by Part and Kuznetsov were totally sold out).

Well, let me talk about the orchestras. When I first saw the Kirov rehearsal of ‘Swan Lake’ in Beijing, I was surprised by the music because it was very much improve. It was conducted by Boris Gruzin and played by the Orchestra of National Ballet of China (the same orchestra which accompanied Royal Ballet when they did R&J in Beijing a few months ago). I knew the players of the orchestra were very familiar with the score, since ‘Swan Lake’ is the most performed ballet in China (I think the orchestra has played this work more than 100 or 200 times).

But this time it seemed that the music had gained a life of its own. My friend went to the orchestra during the intermission to find out what had happened. She talked to some players and learnt that the first violinist and cellist and a harp player from the Kirov had joined the orchestra to help them. The Kirov harp player was a well-mannered old lady (called Emma Barvenko), nearly 80 years old. She told the Chinese players that her monthly salary from the Kirov was only $15. (Dancers can earn more, of course, but also quite limited).

These 3 Kirov players joined the orchestra in Shanghai (Shanghai Radio Symphony Orchestra) as well. But even they couldn't help the orchestra and improve the playing, because the orchestra was too bad (and perhaps not very familiar with the score). The brass was especially bad. It always went wrong at the important points (Perhaps they have had special training from the ROH orchestra brass section… ED)

Actually, the Kirov Opera also came to Shanghai shortly before the ballet. They gave 2 concerts and 2 opera productions (Eugene Onegin and The Marriage of Figaro) at the Grand Theatre. I flew to Shanghai and managed to see 2 performances then (Mahler No.3 on Oct. 23 and Onegin on 24, both conducted by Maestro Gergiev). Onegin was excellently performed with Galina Korchakova in the leading role.

The president of the state-owned "China Performing Arts Agency" also went to Shanghai. He talked with Mr. Gergiev and they decided to do a Beijing Marinsky Festival in next April. Mr. Gergiev mentioned that his first concert at the Great Hall of the People (our congress hall located in the center of Beijing) in last October was one of the most exciting moments in his career and that he would like to give another concert in the same hall. He has promised to give some performances of "Queen of Spades" as well. Some Kirov dancers are supposed to come and give some performances too. I advised our arts agency to ask for a Don Quixote or a Giselle plus a Gala. I hope Altynai Asylmuratova and Ruzimatov will come this time. Mr. Vaziev seemed to be more interested in the younger dancers, but I think I have already passed on my desire for Altynai and Faroukh to him (if they don't come next year, I am afraid that Chinese audiences may lose the chance to see them forever). And I think he will take our message into consideration. (I hope Mr. Vaziev will read this posting, or somebody would pass it to him. I know he reads English, because when I saw him at the Shanghai Grand Theater and told him that I had come from Beijing for Kirov, he said,"Yes, I remember you" in pretty good English).

By the way, at the press conference in Beijing, the Kirov Manager Mr. Schwarzkopf told us the company is facing huge financial difficulties at present. The amount of financial support from the state has been cut by 4 times (the interpreter said so, I take it as "cut down to 1/4") since the financial crisis last year. Even so, the Kirov is trying its best to keep performing standards as high as before and ticket prices as low as before. Above all, it has to feed 2000 employees in the whole Company. The dancers are working very hard every day (the rehearsal I saw in Beijing was the most serious one I have ever attended), and they have to tour often to earn more (not only for themselves, but also for the company). Mr. Vaziev says his favorite thing is to stay with his daughter, but he is so busy and working so hard that he seldom has time to stay at home. I feel very sorry about it and wish we could help them more!