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DVD ReviewBolshoi Ballet ‘The Little Humpbacked Horse’ Featuring Maya Plisetskaya and Vladimir Vassiliev Video Artists International, 2004 4:3 format, 84 minutes Reviewed by John Mallinson |
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The verse story The Little Humpbacked Horse was written in 1834 by Pyotr Yershov using some elements recognisable from traditional fairy tales. Thirty years later Arthur Saint-Leon made this the basis for a ballet with music by Pugni. The ballet was revived in 1895 by St Leon's successor, Petipa, as The Tsar Maiden and then reworked for the Bolshoi in 1901 by Alexander Gorsky who included music by Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms. Derivatives or parts of this (such as the underwater scene) still survive. All of this background has little to do with the current version which was created afresh in 1960 using a new score by Rodion Schredin and choreography by the Bolshoi's Alexander Radunsky. Unusually, the composer is given the main credit: it is known as Schredin's Little Humpbacked Horse, the choreographer getting subordinate billing. Maya Plisetskaya, who married Schredin in 1958, has surprisingly little to say about the ballet in her autobiography in spite of the fact that it was his coming to see her dance during its composition that brought them together. The story contains all the elements: three brothers, two perfidious older ones who bully Ivan the simple youngest; a beautiful princess (the Queen Maiden) who is won by Ivan after a series of trials; a good fairy in the form of a talking and flying horse who assists Ivan; a preposterous king who also woos the Queen Maiden but comes to a sticky end; folk dances; an episode at the bottom of the ocean.
This film was shot in 1961 with dancers from the Bolshoi including Plisetskaya as the Queen Maiden and Vladimir Vasiliev as Ivan. Radunsky plays the King and a winning Anna Scherbinina, the Humpbacked Horse. The story is told by an English language voiceover. Amongst the live action the film uses models, animation and special visual effects (1960s style) so it is difficult to know how closely it follows the staged version. The film is adequate in quality but not, of course, in widescreen format.
 © Video Artists International
The reason that this was transferred to DVD and that it is still in the catalogue must be Plisetskaya's performance. For that it can be recommended, for the rest, though entertaining, it is largely an historical curiosity.
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