Product Review

Bringing together four seminal works, this attractive collection offers a perfect introduction to the world's oldest national ballet company.

Jewels This alluring, abstract ballet, a triptych in which each piece sparkles with the brilliance of a precious stone, is a lyric tribute to women and to the cities of the great dance schools.

La Dame aux camélias Based on the novel that also inspired the stories of Verdi's La Traviata and Hollywood's Moulin Rouge, Neumeier has created a riveting dance drama which unfolds ingeniously through love, passion and danger. Chopin's ravishing music combines with the lavish production, filmed live at the Palais Garnier.

Prokofiev: Cinderella Rudolf Nureyev's colourful, “movie-star” production retains the classic Perrault story but sets it in America during the difficult years of the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s. Agnès Letestu stars as Cinderella who, living with her alcoholic father, tyrannical stepmother and two spiteful stepsisters, dreams of escape and stardom in Hollywood.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Agnès Letestu, a feminine and warm Odette, and José Martinez, a convincing, pale, vulnerable prince Siegfried, are the stars of this deeply passionate, ‘dream’ version of Swan Lake. Rudolf Nureyev's interpretation of Tchaikovsky's lyrical ballet, far from being a clichéd stereotype of this celebrated masterpiece, is an exposé of astonishingly powerful and recognisable human emotions.

"It is open to doubt whether even Balanchine has ever created a work in which the inspiration was so sustained, the invention so imaginative, or the concept so magnificent." (The New York Times - Jewels)

"... a glorious achievement, beautifully captured on DVD under the expert direction of Thomas Grimm. It is also a traditional narrative ballet at its best: the romantic, tragic love story is eloquently told, the costumes are gorgeous, the dancers excellent, Chopin's music is luminous and Neumeier's choreography is as ever beautifully original yet purely classical in its discreet but stylish elegance. If you like the great classical ballets of the past, like Giselle or Swan Lake ... then you will adore John Neumeier's La Dame aux Camélias. I simply loved it and would recommend it whether one is a hopeless romantic or not!" (Musicweb International - La Dame aux Camélias)

"... a musical fantasy overflowing with vitality." (Le Figaro - Cinderella)

"Readers used to traditional views of the ballet should see this gripping newcomer." (The Penguin Guide - Swan Lake)

Production
Company: Ballet de L’Opéra national de Paris
Stage Director: Annabel Arden; John Neumeier
Choreographer: Georges Balanchine; Rudolf Nureyev

Disc Information
Catalogue Number: OA1068BD
Running Time: 673 minutes
Sound: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Label: Opus Arte