Cheap Russian Ballet - The Glorious Tradition - Vol. 3 (Video) Price

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Customer Reviews of Russian Ballet - The Glorious Tradition - Vol. 3

Don Quixote - Act 1 Kitri's solo and pas de deux): Maya Plisetskaya, Yuri Kondratov (1954). This is one of Plisetskaya's best roles. I've never seen anyone who can match her bravura in the first act.

Don Quixote - variation: Mikhail Baryshnikov (1969); Mikhail Lavrovsky (1974); Irek Mukhamedov (1988). Where else can you get back-to-back performances of the same flashy variation by three such great performers? My favorite is Lavrovsky--he is very powerful, and has the most authentic Spanish flavor. His performance was done in at least two takes, apparently of two different versions. This is made obvious by a bit of bad editing: at the end of the middle section of the variation, he's downstage center, obviously preparing to do a tour en l'air, then suddenly he's upstage right, starting the final section with something completely different.

Raymonda - pas de dix and variations: Irina Kolpakova, Vladilen Semenov (1976): When I first saw the Kirov in the early/mid-60's, Kolpakova was the reigning prima ballerina. Excellent! [Besides her many appearances as a dancer in videos, Kolpakova is also shown as a coach in the documentary "The Leningrad Legend," in which Natalia Makarova returns to the Kirov, her alma mater. Kolpakova is shown coaching (tearing into, really) young Veronika Ivanova, now a principal dancer.]

Grand Pas Classique: Gabriella Komleva, Yuri Soloviev (1974). This was a great revelation for me. Although I remember Komleva's name and pictures in 1960's souvenir programs of the Kirov, I never saw her perform. From what I've seen on videos, I really missed something. She and Kolpakova are of the generation that predated the slender, pared-to-the-bone dancers who prevail today. And I think it is that strong, compact build that enables Kolpakova and Komleva to be so rock solid, in promenades and balances, for instance. Komleva is beautifully formed, from head to toe. She has a perfect classical line and amazing strength (in the fiendishly difficult relevés traveling on the diagonal in her variation, her upper body and arms aren't disturbed even the least bit). I might even say that she has too much aplomb--she stays so calm that she makes it all look too easy. [Komleva also appears, much later in her career, in an excerpt from Ruslan and Ludmila in the "Classic Kirov Performances" video, still making it look easy. And she, too, makes a brief appearance as a coach in "The Leningrad Legend." She is the one in pink sweatpants who coaches Galina Mezentseva.]

All in all, this is an excellent sampling of almost 50 years of Russian ballet.

rather pricey....
I won't go into a review of the selections, but here are the information on the content:

1) The Dying Swan: Galina Ulanova (1940)

2) Don Quixote - Act 1 Kitri's solo and pas de deux): Maya Plisetskaya, Yuri Kondratov (1954)

3) Chopiniana (aka Les Sylphides) - pas de deux: Natalia Makarova, Vitaly Onoshko (1965)

4) Don Quixote - variation: Mikhail Baryshnikov (1969)

5) Don Quixote - variation: Mikhail Lavrovsky (1974)

6) Don Quixote - variation: Ireck Muchamedov (1988)

7) Fountain of Bakhchisary - pas de deux: Ekaterina Maximova, Alexander Bogatyrev (1977)

8) Raymonda - pas de dix and variations: Irina Kolpakova, Vladilen Semenov (1976)

9) Giselle - Act 2 pas de deux: Ekaterina Maximova, Vyatcheslav Gordeev (1974)

10) La Bayadere - pas de deux: Nadezda Pavlova, Vyatcheslav Gordeev (1981)

11) Grand Pas Classique: Gabriella Komleva, Yuri Soloviev (1974)

12) The Sleeping Beauty - Grand pas de deux (Aurora's Wedding): Nadezda Gracheva, Andrey Uvarov