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Bolshoi BalletAugust 2007 London, Coliseum by Charlotte Kasner |
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There are no second casts in Spartacus. Dancers may always compete for premières and first nights, but this is a ballet that always demands first cast performances from every dancer, and this is what the Coliseum audience got. In fact, Neporozhny's Crassus was more supple and assured than that of Volchkov on Monday night, and Maria Alexandrova positively sizzled as Aegina. Svetlana Lunkhina's Phrygia was fluid and technically solid, although she lacks the expressiveness of Antonicheva, especially in the ports de bras. Phrygia is usually played as a chaste foil to Aegina's courtesan, but Lunkhina invested her with a strength that took the ballet beyond the death of Spartacus. She was very much a character in her own right and used her monologues to full dramatic effect. Denis Matvienko is a beautiful dancer, with exquisite line and precision in turns, but he doesn't project over the footlights in the way that other dancers have in the rôle. He also made a serious slip in an early jump and almost ended up in the pit. He recovered very quickly but it rather killed the moment. Everything is there, but his performance feels restrained; more suitable to a noble prince than a great warrior.
What can be in no doubt is the quality of the Company dancers in a ballet where it is easy to focus on the four main soloists and lose sight of the demands that Grigorovich makes on every one down to the humblest member of the corps. The choreography is often seen as being unsubtle, but its complexity unfolds with every viewing.
 © Bolshoi Ballet
The orchestra were not in quite such good form as on the opening night, with cracks in the brass and some problematic tuning in Act III.
However, these are minor carps that should not be allowed to denigrate a Company that is on better form than it has been for years. It was good to see the house packed to the rafters for this signature work in a theatre that could have been built for it.
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