 |
   |
DVD ReviewBolshoi Ballet ‘The Stone Flower’ Featuring Video Artists International, Filemed 1979, On DVD 2007 4:3 format, 111 minutes Reviewed by Charlotte Kasner |
|||||||
|
This, the last ballet score that Prokofiev wrote, is a Russian classic, although not overly well known elsewhere. It was Yuri Grigorovich's first full length work, created in 1957 for the Kirov Ballet. It is a tale from the mineral rich Ural mountains that pre-dates fellow Peterburgian Balanchine's Jewels with its dances of diamonds and precious stones and of course the famous malachite vase. NVC had released a video in 1991 with Aleksandr Gulyaev and Anna Polikarpova at the Kirov, but it is a treat to see the pairing of Vassiliev and Maximova from a Bolshoi gala that was filmed in 1979. The filming of live performances can be problematic and this is a pretty literal version. There is a lengthy overture where we peer at conductor Aleksandr Kopilov through the gloom which perhaps could have been edited with views of the theatre or indeed anything more informative for such a long section. It is also quite dark in places, although the balance between full length, full stage views and close ups is about right.
As ever, Vassiliev is the thinking dancer whose Danila is expressive if not overly bright. He is perhaps, in this interpretation, self-centred in his pursuit of stone masonly perfection which leaves his girl vulnerable to the advances of the lecherous landlord and obliged to travel over the mountains to get him out of a fix. Actually, the women are only virgins or whores in this one; I've never believed that, having lost her captive man, the Queen of the Copper Mountain would have been gracious enough to have sent he and his fiance away with blessings and gifts.
 © Video Artists International
This is a real treat that should grace a comprehensive ballet library and would make an excellent introduction to Soviet classics.
|
||||||||
|
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
