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But at another level, it is a VERY significant branch on the tree of classical ballet. The part of Medora, in 1909, gave Tamara Karsavina (as it had with Pavlova, seven years earlier) her first major breakthrough in the Marinsky: she wrote in her reminiscences - 'An unmistakable sign of my rising in the hierachy was the fact that my first performance of Corsair was given on a Sunday night'. And, she had no doubts about the importance of the role, saying: '..perhaps no other ballet offers such varied opportunities to the leading lady..'.

There you have the essence of the Corsaire - skinny plot, but fat dancing!

Wednesday evening saw the fourth-string cast in this mini-run of four performances and, unsurprisingly, for a great company worn down on the conveyor-belt of White Nights and touring, it was a real Curate's Egg.

Act I was a near perfect textbook for Vaganova technique. My only quibble was that the smoke effect from the prologue's shipwreck scene hung over the opening sequences of the first scene, providing a blurred edge to what should have been seen with perfect clarity.

Nevertheless, two performers shone through the first Act. I was very smitten by Elvira Tarasova's Gulnara. She danced the main solo in the second scene of Act I (and her lesser variations in the third Act) with a shimmering, luxurious and perfectly unhurried discipline. Every tendon moved and was positioned with a subtle, seemingly effortless technique. Her Porte de Bras was sublime and I was quite mesemerised by a consumate and very disciplined performance. It was steel covered in silk.

Andrian Fayadev's Lankadem was almost on a par. He brought the necessary cheek into Lankadem's 'Jack the Lad' Street trader, only he was selling women rather than apples and pears! As one expects with the Kirov (and Bolshoi) his jumps achieved amazing elevation, a momentary perception of suspended animation and the softest landings. One short sequence of triple reverse turns in a cabriole position (exactly repeated in the second Act by Shisov as Conrad) was unbelievable and should only have been possible with the momentum of skates on ice.

Sofia Gumerova was Wednesday night at the Marinsky, rather than Sunday. An attractive, tall and very elegant dancer. She did well in the first Act but I liked her performance less as the ballet moved on. Vladimir Shishov was once again elevated from the Corps to play the Corsaire, Conrad. He is very tall and dashingly handsome in a kind of Errol Flynn way (very appropriate for a pirate ballet!) and I suspect that he could well be a future Marinsky star in the making.

Conrad achieves the impossible (twice) by invading the Pasha's space and stealing his most treasured property (his women). Since the Pasha is surrounded by an army this is hard to believe but Shisov carried off this double deceipt very well so that the audience believed it could happen - just as if he were a dancing 'Sea Hawk' like Errol Flynn! Actually, the fact that the Pasha's Guards disappeared every time they were needed helped, rather a lot!

I was disappointed by the Second Act almost as much as I loved the First. The heart of the Corsaire is contained within these Caves on the Island of Kos and, in particular, in the sequence of big turns made famous by Nureyev's portrayal of the Slave in the 60s (beautifully captured in Anthony Havelock-Allen's 1965 film in 'An Evening with the Royal Ballet') and so brilliantly recaptured on the ROH stage by Teddy Kumakawa in this year's Nureyev tribute.

The choreography has been significantly revised over the years and the Pas de Trois between Shishov, Gumerova and Igor Kolb (as Ali) was a poor imitation of what can be breathtaking ballet. What should have been a spectacular series of travelling jumps (double and triple saut de Basque etc)and barrel turns was a disappointment. Igor Kolb possessed all the mannerisms and posturing of Ali but one expects a Marinsky Principal to lean so far inwards on the turns that he seems almost parallel to the floor. One also expects to be deceived into believing that he is in the air several times longer than his feet are on the floor. Kolb did not deliver.

Gumerova also seemed uncertain in the Act II dancing. The problem with perfect technique is that it makes the blemishes so much more obvious and there were several problems, perhaps one triggered a domino effect as can sometimes happen, especially with her balance, which required some unchoreographed steps to be recovered on at least two occasions. The best dancing in the Second Act came from Shisov who remained uniformly disciplined throughout.

The Third Act is pretty to look at with the Corps stepping straight out of a Fragonard painting. Beautiful, disciplined elegance - just what we expect. I was, however, greatly disappointed by two of the three Odalisques who were well below par.

The scenery, designed by Teimouratz Mourvanidze, and costumes (by Galina Solovyova) are very effective and the transitions within and between scenes is quite remarkable: the transition from the living garden to the ship sailing away and back again for the curtain calls (all in a matter of seconds) was very impressive. Less so was Boris Gruzin's handling of the orchestra, which often seemed to be in a different tempo groove to that of the dancers.

A lot of important peripheral activity was so far into the wings, stage left, that it was impossible to see, even in the most expensive seats. I saw none of the important mimic action as Conrad is drugged in the caves or the Pasha's comic activity during Act III and I suspect that the same is true of 50% of the audience. I don't quite understand why the Kirov need to take the peripheral action so wide into the wings that it gives even £80 seats a restricted view. I remember having this same grouse when the Kirov were here in 2001

An evening that coupled some sublime highlights with a feeling of disappointment from a promise unfulfilled. Worth seeing even though one sensed that something was missing.