Ballet

The Art of Lauren Cuthbertson

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The Art of Lauren Cuthbertson 4 Disc Set released 2022. Below are the discs for five ballets featuring Lauren Cuthbertson at the ROB. Please note that The Cellist and The Two Pigeons were originally released with other ROB material not staring Lauren Cuthbertson. For this box set, Opus Arte has created a new disc combining The Cellist and The Two Pigeons.

  1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Talbot. 2011. Grade: A+

  2. Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev. 2013. Grade: B+

  3. The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky. 2017. Grade: B

  4. The Cellist. Feeney. 2021. Grade: B+

  5. The Two Pigeons. Messager. 2017. Grade: C+

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The Sleeping Beauty

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The Sleeping Beauty ballet. Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a libretto by Marius Petipa and Ivan Vsevolozskij. In 2019, choreography by Rudolf Nureyev is revived by Florence Clerc with the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Stars Polina Semionova (Princess Aurora), Timofej Andrijashenko (Prince Désiré), Alessandro Grillo (King Florestan XXIV), Marta Romagna (The Queen), Riccardo Massimi (Catalabutte), Emanuela Montanari (The Lilac Fairy), Beatrice Carbone (Carabosse), Deborah Gismondi (The Countess), Giuseppe Conte (The Duke), Federico Fresi (Puss in Boots), Antonella Albano (The White Cat), Claudio Coviello (Blue Bird), Vittoria Valerio (Princess Florine); Martina Arduino, Alessandra Vassalo, Gaia Andreanò, Caterina Bianchi, Agnese Di Clemente, Maria Celeste Losa, and Nicoletta Manni (Seven Fairies); Gabriele Corrado, Christian Fagetti, Andrea Risso, Andrea Crescenzi, Mattia Semperboni, Emanuele Cazzato, and Walter Madau (Seven Knights); Marco Agostino, Gioacchino Starace, Edoardo Caporaletti, and Nicola Del Freo (Four Princes); Vittoria Valerio, Alessandra Vassallo, Gaia Andreanò, Christelle Cennerelli, Marta Gerani, Caterina Bianchi, Alessia Auriemma, and Agnese Di Clemente (Princess’s Friends), as well as Virna Toppi, Nicola De Freo, Alessandra Vassallo, Giaia Andreanò, and Caterina Bianchi (Pas de cinq).
Felix Korobov conducts the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala. Set and costume design by Franca Squarciapino; lighting design by Marco Filibeck. Directed for TV by Arnalda Canali. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

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4 / Live Double Bill

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4 / Live double bill ballet show—something old, and then something new:

  • Live. Music by Liszt. Choreographed by Hans van Manen in 1979 for the Nederlands Dans Theater, where Live has been an iconic part its repertory. Subject title is the first production of Live outside the Netherlands. Staged after Hans van Manen by Rache Beaujean. Stars dancers Olga Esina and Marcos Menha. There is also a role for a cameraman. This role was created at the NDT by the then young “videomaster” Henk van Dijk. Now the 42-years-older Henk appears as guest artist in Vienna with his trusty camcorder wired to transmit signals to a movie projector. Pianist is Shino Takizawa. Costumes by Keso Dekker; lighting by Bert Dalhuysen. Live is a warm-up of about 23 minutes.

  • 4 choreographed by Martin Schläpfer. Axel Kober conducts all of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper and soprano Slávka Zámečníková. Schläpfer became the new Director and Chief Choreographer for the Vienna State Ballet on September 1, 2020. He produced 4 about 3 months later with 89 dancers in the cast. Set design by Florian Etti; costumes by Catherine Voeffray; lighting by Thomas Diek.

Directed for TV by Myriam Hoyer. Shabby keepcase booklet in German with weak translation into English. There is no menu—you push PLAY and the whole show follows with Live first. The soprano sings in German and there are no subtitles in any language. The short titles of “4” and “Live” are hard to remember and index. At one point in the keepcase booklet and in other places the program is confusingly called Mahler, live! Sum up: this is the worst-crafted Blu-ray disc I’ve reviewed from a major publisher. However, SQ and PQ are OK. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Composite Grade: C+

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Romeo and Juliet - Beyond Words

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Romeo and Juliet - Beyond Words. Music by Prokofiev and choreography by Kenneth MacMillan in motion picture format. The action was directed by Michael Nunn and the film was directed by William Trevitt in 2019. Nunn and Trevitt are ballet dancers and choreographers who started their careers with the Royal Opera Ballet and have worked on many projects together. The film was shot on stages built in Hungary originally for a made-for-TV drama set in Renaissance Italy. Stars William Bracewell (Romeo), Francesca Hayward (Juliet), Matthew Ball (Tybalt), Marcelino Sambé (Mercutio), James Hay (Benvolio), Kirsten McNally (Lady Capulet), Christopher Saunders (Lord Capulet), Romany Pajdak (Nurse), Tomas Mock (Paris), Bennet Gartside (Friar Laurence), Tierney Heap, Laura Morera, and Beatriz Stix-Brunell (Harlots), as well as many other dancers of the Royal Ballet. The full Romeo and Juliet ballet runs about 158 minutes; this film version runs 91 minutes. Koen Kessels conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Vasko Vassilev) in a special arrangement of the Prokofiev music that matches the action in the finished film. Costume design by Nicholas Georgiadis. Executive Producers were Kevin O’Hare, Judit Sós, and Jan Younghusband. The Producer was Kwesi Dickson. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B with the ‽ designation.

Since 2008, the Royal Opera/Ballet and its subsidiary, Opus Arte, have been leaders in packaging opera and ballet works in top-quality Blu-ray titles. Here it appears the Royal Ballet and the BBC are trying to create a new motion picture genre: a 90 minute cut-down version of a classic ballet work with naturalistic movie-quality values . . .

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Peer Gynt

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Peer Gynt ballet. Choreography and libretto by Edward Clug after the play in verse by Henrik Ibsen. Music by Edvard Grieg. Staged 2018 by Edward Clug and Miloš Isailović at the Wiener Staatsoper. Stars Jakob Feyferlik (Peer Gynt), Alice Firenze (Solveig), Eno Peci (Death), Zsolt Török (A Deer), Franziska Wallner-Hollinek (Åse, Peer’s Mother), Ioanna Avraam (Ingrid, the Bride), Nikisha Fogo (A Green-clad Woman), Isabella Lucia Severi (Little Helga, Solveig’s Sister), András Lukás (Dr. Begriffenfeldt), and dancers from the Wiener Staatsballet (Ballet Director Manuel Legris). See PS for more credits for dancers. Simon Hewett conducts the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper and the Chorakademie und Extrachor der Wiener Staatsoper. Also features pianist Shino Takizawa, répétiteur and soloist of the Wiener Staatsballet. Set design by Marko Japelj; costume design by Leo Kulaš; lighting design by Tomaž Premzl. Directed for TV by Balázs Delbó. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is an anti-apprentice-story play, written in verse, in which the anti-hero messes up in innumerable ways as he comes to complete ruin

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La Source

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La Source ballet. Performed 2011 by the Paris Opéra Ballet at the Palais Garnier. Choreographed by Jean-Guillaume Bart. Libretto after Charles Nutter and Arthur Saint-Léon. Music by Léo Delibes and Ludwig Minkus as arranged by Marc-Olivier Dupin. Stars Ludmila Pagliero (Naïla), Karl Paquette (Djémil), Isabelle Ciaravola (Nouredda), Mathais Haymann (Zaël), Christophe Duquenne (Mazdock), Nolwenn Daniel (Dadjé), Alexis Renaud (Le Khan), and dancers of the Corps de Ballet of the Paris Opéra. Koen Kessels conducts the Orchestra of the Paris Opéra. Set design by Éric Ruf; costume design by Christian Lacroix; lighting design by Dominique Bruguière; dramaturgy by Clément Hervier-Léger and Jean-Guillaume Bart. Directed for TV by Francois Roussillon. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D

The “source” here is a natural water spring inhabited by a water sprite who falls in love with a mortal man. This leads to all kinds of drama . . .

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The Snow Queen

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The Snow Queen ballet. Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, music arrangement by Richard Honner, and choreography by Christopher Hampson. Performed 2019 at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Stars Constance Devernay (The Snow Queen), Bethany Kingsley-Garner (Gerda), Andrew Peasgood (Kai), Kayla-Maree Tarantolo (Lexi/The Summer Princess), Bruno Micchiardi (Ringmaster), Grace Horler (Mazelda, the Fortune Teller), and Jerome Anthony Barnes (Zac). Jean-Claude PIcard conducts the Scottish Ballet Orchestra (Leader Justine Watts). Designs by Lez Brotherston; lighting design by Paul Pyant. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Eskapist

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Eskapist ballet. Choreography by Alexander Ekman. Music by Mikael Karlsson. Performed 2019 at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm. Stars Oscar Salomonsson (Eskapist ); Daria Ivanova and Sarah Jane Medley (Cone Heads); Jonna Savioja (Tree Queen); Anton Valdbauer and Emily Slawski (You and Me); Joakim Adeberg, Jérôme Marchand, Anton Valdbauer, and Mayumi Yamaguchi (Senior Eskapists); Haruka Sassa and Adilijiang Abudureheman (Classic Duet); Alina Lagoas (Red Hatwoman); and Coralie Aulas, Frida Hambraeus, Luiza Lopes, Kisa Nakashima, Moe Nieda, Natalie Ogonek, Alessa Rogers, Desislava Stoeva, Lisa Van Cauwenbergh, Madeline Woo, Kaho Yanagisawa, Gabriel Barrenengoa, William Dugan, Mackenzie Faquhar, Hampus Gauffin, Hiroaki Ishida, Pascal Jansson, Julien Keulen, Callum Lowden, Preston McBain, Kentaro Mitsumori, Jeremie Neveu, Samuele Ninci, Javier Rojas, and Erik Rudqvist (Eskapists). Also features cello by Erik Wahlgren. Set and lighting design by Alexander Ekman; costume design by Henrik Vibskov; dramaturgy by Carina Nildalen; production manager was Metta Flensburg. Directed for TV by Tommy Pascal; produced by Xavier Dubois; associate producer was Ditte Feuk. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

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Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet ballet. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Choreography by John Cranko. Filmed 2017 at the State Theatre Stuttgart. Stars Elisa Badenes (Juliet), David Moore (Romeo), Reid Anderson (Lord Capulet), Melinda Witham (Lady Capulet), Robert Robinson (Tybalt), Roman Novitzky (Count Paris), Marcia Haydée (Juliet’s Nurse), Matteo Crockard-Villa (Lord Montague), Julia Bergua Orero (Lady Montague), Martí Fernández Paixà (Mercutio), Adhonay Soares da Silva (Benvolio), Rolando D’Alesio (Duke of Verona), Egon Madsen (Friar Laurence), and Rocio Aleman (Rosaline); Katarzyna Kozielska, Ami Morite, and Magdalena Dziegielewsha (Gypsies); Alexander McGowan, Aurora de Mori, Paula Rezende, and Louis Stiens (Carnival Dancers). James Tuggle conducts the State Orchestra Stuttgart. Set and costume design by Jü rgen Rose. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. (It appears this was shot in 4K but published in 2K.) Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

There have been 3 major versions of Romeo and Juliet.

  1. The original, choreographed by Lavrovsky, played in Russia during World War II. It was an ideological ballet featuring progressive young people vs. feudal traditions. Prokofiev’s score for this, now considered to be the greatest ballet score not written by Tchaikovsky, was pretty controversial back in those days.

  2. Cranko in 1962 took up Prokofiev’s music and added a narrative ballet that follows well the basic themes of the Shakespeare play. It doesn’t have an epilogue with the two warring families making peace, but everyone knows that’s the whole point of the story.

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ROB Classic Program

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ROB Classic Program. Performed 2019 as a triple-bill at the Royal Opera House. Pavel Sorokin conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Vasko Vassilev):

  • Concerto. Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan. Music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Staged by Christopher Carr. Stars Anna Rose O’Sullivan, James Hay, Yasmine Naghdi, Ryoichi Hirano, and Mayara Magri. Also features Kate Shipway (piano). Designs by Jürgen Rose; lighting design by John B. Read.

  • Enigma Variations. Choreography by Frederick Ashton. Music by Edward Elgar. Staged by Kevin O’Hare and Christopher Carr. Stars Christopher Saunders, Laura Morera, Paul Kay, Philip Mosley, Calvin Richardson, Reece Clarke, Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Matthew Ball, Romany Pajdak, Bennet Gartside, Francesca Hayward, Luca Acri, Erico Montes, and Itziar Mendizabal. Designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman; lighting design by John B. Read.

  • Raymonda, Act III. Choreography by Rudolf Nureyev after Marius Petipa. Music by Alexander Glazunov. Staged by Christopher Carr. Stars Natalia Osipova, Vadim Muntagirov, Fumi Kaneko, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Claire Calvert, and Beatriz Stix-Brunell. Designs by Barry Kay; lighting design by John B. Read.

Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D

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Les Indes galantes

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Jean-Philippe Rameau Les Indes galantes opera-ballet to a libretto by Louis Fuzelier. Choreographed and directed 2014 by Laura Scozzi at the Bordeaux National Opera. Stars Amel Brahim-Djelloul (Hébé/Fatime/Phani), Benoît Arnould (Bellone/Alvar), Eugénie Warnier (Roxane), Olivera Topalovic (Amour/Zima), Judith van Wanroij (Emilie/Atalide), Vittorio Prato (Osman), Anders Dahlin (Valère/Tacmas/Carlos/Damon), Nathan Berg (Huascar), and Thomas Dolié (Adario). Christophe Rousset conducts Les Talens Lyriques and the Choeur de L'Opéra National be Bordeaux (Chorus Director Alexander Martin). Sets by Natascha Leguen de Kerneizon; costumes by Jean-Jacques Delmotte; lighting by Ludovic Bouaud. Directed for TV by Olivier Simonnet; produced by Jean-Stéphane Michaux. The publisher Alpha-Classics is a French company, and the keepcase material is in French. Sung in French. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A with ‽ designation for extensive nudity.

Jean-Philippe Rameau's first hit was the opera Hippolyte et Aricie from 1733. In 1735, Les Indes galantes (The Amorous Indies) was his first opera-ballet. It's a package of 5 mini-operas: a prologue followed by 4 independent pieces, each running from roughly 30 to 40 minutes. The Prologue is set in a mythological garden (here the Garden of Eden). Bellone, the God of War, enters the Garden and leads the men off to the joy of combat. Amour then sends the women off to observe 4 stories about love; director Scozzi assigns this task to 3 lady comedians called the “love tourists.”

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Les Indes galantes

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Jean-Philippe Rameau Les Indes galantes opera-ballet to a libretto by Louis Fuzelier. Directed and choreographed 2016 by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui at the Prinzregentheater in Munich as part of the Munich Opera Festival. Stars Lisette Oropesa (Hébé/Zima), Goran Juric (Bellone), Ana Quintans (L'Amour/Zaïre), Tareq Nazmi (Osman/Ali), Elsa Benoit (Emilie), Cyril Auvity (Valère/Tacmas), François Lis (Huascar/Don Alvaro), Anna Prohaska (Phani/Fatime), Mathias Vidal (Don Carlos/Damon), and John Moore (Adario). Also features the Dancers of Eastman. Ivor Bolton conducts Munchner Festspielorchester and Balthasar-Neumann-Chor (Chorus Master Detlef Bratschke). Set design by Anna Viebrock; costume design by Greta Goiris; lighting design by Michael Bauer; dramaturgy by Antonio Cuenca Ruiz and Miron Hakenbeck. Directed for TV by Andy Sommer; produced by François Duplat. Released 2017, the disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound output. Grade: B-

The Prologue opens in a elementary school where Hébé (Lisette Oropesa), the goddess of youth, is teaching school children about the wonders of nature.

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Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet ballet. Music by Prokofiev. Directed and choreographed in 2019 by Christian Spuck at the Opernhaus Zürich. Stars Lucas Valente (Capulet), Eva Dewaele (Lady Capulet), Katja Wünsche (Juliett), Tigran Mkrtchyan (Tybalt), Elena Vostrotina (Juliet’s Nurse), Daniel Otevrel (Lord Montague), Mélannie Borel (Lady Montague), William Moore (Romeo), Daniel Mulligan (Mercutio), Christopher Parker ( Benvolio), Jan Casier (Paris), Filipe Portugal (Father Laurence) and other dancers from Ballett Zürich and the Junior Ballett. Michail Jurowski conducts the Philharmonia Zürich. Set design by Christian Schmidt; costume design by Emma Ryott; lighting design by Reinhard Traub; dramaturgy by Michael Küster. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer; produced by Paul Smaczny. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B-

For reasons I’ll mention later, I find this to be an uneven and weak production. But it appears TV Director Michael Beyer went out and bought new cameras for this shoot. The PQ is maybe better than any other of hundreds of fine-arts Blu-ray titles I’ve watched in recent years. So in this review, I’ll focus on beautiful video images. Even the fleeting views of the orchestra are beautiful. For example, consider the image below. Note the bright sheet music, the fine rendition of the instruments, and the nice skin tones of the musicians. On my TV display I’m also able to see variations in the black clothing of the players. It looks in my home theater almost like 4K with HDR, but it’s just regular 2K:

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Coppélia

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Coppélia ballet. Music by Léo Delibes. Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Arthur Saint-Léon after E.T.A. Hoffmann. Choreography and production by Ninette de Valois after Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti. Recorded 2019 at the Royal Opera House. Stars Marianela Nuñez (Swanilda), Vadim Muntagirov (Franz), Gary Avis (Dr. Coppélius), Ashley Dean (Coppélia), Christopher Saunders (The Burgomaster), Enrico Montes (The Innkeeper), Mayara Magri (Peasant Girl), Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød (The Duke), Claire Calvert (Aurora), and Annette Buvoli (Prayer). Barry Wordsworth conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Designs by Osbert Lancaster; lighting design by John B. Read; staging by Christopher Carr. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A-

We already have an A+ version of the traditional Coppélia from the Bolshoi Ballet. Now the ROB weighs in with a competing take. See our Bolshoi review for general information about this story. In this review we will try to stack up the London show against the Moscow juggernaut.

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Carmen (Ballet)

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Carmen ballet. Choreography by Jiří Bubeníček. Music by Isaac Albéniz, Georges Bizet, Gabriele Bonolis, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Manuel de Falla adapted by Gabriele Bonolis. Recorded 2019 at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Stars Rebecca Bianchi (Carmen), Amar Ramasar (Don José), Alessio Rezza (Lucas), and the Corpo di Ballo of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. (No credits in the package for the supporting dancers.) Louis Lohraseb conducts the Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Set and lighting design by Gianni Carluccio; costume design by Anna Biagiotti. Directed for TV by Claudia De Toma. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 HD Master Audio sound. Grade: C+

Bubeníček’s Carmen ballet is based on the 1845 novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. It is not a danced version of Bizet’s Carmen opera. But Bubeníček does use music from the opera along with selections from 4 Spanish composers.

The novella Carmen was written in the then popular episodic style of fiction in which the author writes of events he claims to have personally experienced or learned of as a reporter. Picking up on this, Bubeníček puts on the stage a tall, thin “writer” character who represents . . .

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