Nuit Erik Satie

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Nuit Erik Satie (Erik Satie Night) concert by pianist Nicolas Horvath. Performed October 6, 2018 at the Boulez Hall of the Philharmonie de Paris. Filmed for TV in contemplative black and white by Thierry Villeneuve. Released 2022, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: A+

It’s October in Paris. The tourists are gone. The days are getting shorter, grayer, and colder. Even the people of the City of Love need a little aphrodisiac. They need a Nuit Blanche at the Boulez Hall where they can hear all of Erik Satie’s, droll, philosophical, and strangely romantic piano miniatures. For up to 8 hours total.

Yes, Horvath played all of Satie’s solo piano music. The show was organized so you could get a ticket for just an hour to hear your favorite piece. Or you could stay all night. More than 14,000 people dropped by. It became a kind of civilized indoor Woodstock. But here nobody was protesting anything—just trying to get a few vibes going.

Let’s see how they did . . .

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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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What is the Best Blu-ray of the Romeo and Juliet Ballet?

What is the best Blu-ray of the Romeo and Juliet ballet? The Prokofiev music for Romeo & Juliet is considered to be the best ballet music ever written other than by Tchaikovsky. We now have 10 Blu-rays of this ballet. (We also have a Blu-ray of the Shakespeare play, another of the French opera Roméo et Juliette, and another of the Matthew Bourne dance theater show called Romeo + Juliet. But this story is just about the classical ballet.)

There are 3 famous versions of R&J to Prokofiev by different choreographers:

  • Lavrovsky created a propaganda R&J for Stalin that played in that era

  • Cranko in 1962 made a romantic R&J that is still in repertory in Stuttgart and other places

  • MacMillan in 1965 turbocharged the Cranko version for the Royal Opera House, and this is the most popular R&J today

Here are our picks for the very best R&J ballet Blu-rays:

  • Royal Opera House. A+. 2021. Opus Arte. The is the third MacMillan version published by the Royal Ballet. It stars Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball.

  • La Scala. A+. 2017. C Major. MacMillan version with the Roberto Bolle, the God of Milan, as Romeo. And Misty Copeland as Juliet is fabulous too

  • Stuttgart Opera Ballet. A+. 2018. Unitel. This is the Cranko version that got R&J started in today’s entertainment market. Slightly old-fashion maybe, but so well put together!

We have lots of screenshots about our picks and the runner-ups that you can reach through our Alphalist. The Matthew Bourne Romeo + Juliet may appeal more to younger viewers. It’s cut down to 90 minutes. . .

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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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Rinaldo

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Handel Rinaldo opera to a libretto by Aaron Hill and Giacomo Rossi. Directed 2020 by Pier Luigi Pizzi at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino after an original production by Pizzi at the Teatro Valli di Reggie Emilia dating back to 1985. Stars Carmela Remigio (Armida); Leonardo Cortellazzi (Goffredo); Francesca Aspromonte (Almirena); Raffaele Pe (Rinaldo); Andrea Patucelli (Argante); Shixun Li (A Herald); Marilena Ruta and Valentina Corò (A woman/Two mermaids); William Corrò (A Christian magician). Federico Maria Sardelli conducts the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Set and costume design by Pier Luigi Pizzi; assistant direction and lighting design by Massimo Gasparon. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini; sound recorded, edited, and mixed by MASClassica Audio Recording (Claudio Speranzini, Antonio Martino). Sung in Italian. Released in 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

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Baltikum

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Baltikum concert. Marcus Creed conducts the SWR Vokalensemble. Here is the program:

  • Veljo Tormis: Kaks laulu Ernst Enno sõnadele

  • Rytis Mažulis: Canon solus

  • Pēteris Vasks : Litene

  • Andris Dzenītis: Four Madrigals by e.e. cummings

  • Justė Janulytė: Plonge

  • Arvo Pärt: Dopo la Vittoria

  • Arvo Pärt: Ja ma kuulsin hääle…

See the back cover art for more details about the pieces sung. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

The correct full name in English for the performers would be “ SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble”. SWR stands for Southwest Radio, one of the most important sources in Germany for classical music broadcast and recordings. Under Marcus Creed, this ensemble has an international reputation, especially for a cappella performance of new, rare, or virtuoso choral works. This is the first HDVD published of a cappella singing—

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Lucrezia Borgia

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Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia opera to a libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2019 by Andrea Bernard at the Donizetti Foundation Theater in Bergamo, Italy. Stars Marko Mimica (Don Alfonso), Carmela Remigio (Donna Lucrezia Borgia), Xabier Anduaga (Gennaro), Varduhl Abrahamyan (Maffio Orsini), Manuel Pierattelli (Jeppo Liverotto), Alex Martini (Don Apostolo Gazella), Roberto Maietta (Ascanio Petrucci), Daniele Lettieri (Oloferno Vitellozzo), Rocco Cavalluzzi (Gubetta), Edoardo Milletti (Rustighello), Federico Benetti (Astolfo), Claudio Corradi (Usher), Alessandro Yague (Servant), and Francesca Verga (Princess Negroni). Riccardo Frizza conducts the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, the stage band of the Conservatory of Bergamo, and the Coro del Teatro Municipale di Piacenza (Chorus Master Corrado Casati). Sets by Alberto Beltrame; costumes by Elena Beccaro; lighting by Marco Alba; choreography by Marta Negrini; assistant direction by Tecla Gucci. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti. Sound recording by Rino Trasi and Giuseppe Famularo; sound editing and post-production by Rino Trasi. Sung in Italian. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

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Semele

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Handel Semele opera to libretto by William Congreve. Directed 2019 by Thomas Guthrie at the Alexandra Palace Theatre in London. This is a staged concert performance of the opera before a live audience. Stars Louise Alder (Semele), Hugo Hymas (Jupiter), Lucile Richardot (Juno/Ino), Carlos Vistoli (Athamas), Gianluca Buratto (Cadmus/Somnus), Emily Owne (Iris), Angela Hicks (Cupid), Peter Davoren (Apollo), Angharad Rowlands (Augur), and Christopeher Webb (High Priest). John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists. Directed for TV by Felix Breisach. Sung in English. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: NA

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Alceste

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Gluck Alceste dance/opera to libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi (Paris Version 1776). Directed and choreographed 2019 by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Stars Charles Castronovo (Admète); Dorothea Röschmann (Alceste); Michael Nagy (The Grand-Priest of Apollon/Hercules); Manuel Günther (Évandre); Sean Michael Plumb (A Herald at Arms/Apollo); Anna El-Khashem, Noa Beinart, Caspar Singh, and Frederic Jost (Coryphées); and Callum Thorpe (An Oracle/A God of the Underworld). Also stars Dancers of Comapagnie Eastman, Antwerp, including Nicola Leahey, Josepha “Princess” Madoki, Acacia Schachte, Qing Wang, Ema Yuasa, Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, Kazutomi “Tsuki” Kozuki, Morgan Lugo; Robert “Robbie” Moore, Mohamed Toukabri, Jonas Vandekerckhove, Pol Van den Broek, and Patrick Williams “Two Face” Seebacher. Antonello Manacorda conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Chorus of the Bayrische Staatsoper (Chorus Master Sören Eckhoff). Sets by Henrik Ahr; costumes by Jan-Jan Van Essche; lighting by Michael Bauer; dramatic advisor was Benedikt Stampfli. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in French. Released 2021, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

This is an opera performance with famous singers for the lead roles plus a substantial group of dancers, all directed by the famous choreographer Cherkaoui

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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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Written on Water

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Written on Water is a motion picture docudrama. Choreography and direction by Pontus Lidberg. Original recorded music by Stefan Levin and pianist Magnus Svensson playing classical music solo. Stars Lidberg , Aurélie Dupont, Alexander Jones, Stina Ekblad, Sarawanee Tanatanit, and Leslie Caron. Directed for TV by Martin Nisser; edited by Lars Gustafson. Produced by François Duplat, Amaury Lafarge, Pontus Lidberg, and Mary Ellen Obias. Video is in letterbox with 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+ with the ‽ designation.

This is an esoteric, puzzling, scrambled-plot movie about the lives of dance artists. One critic asserts that Lidberg’s erraticism results in a “dance movie adrift.” Lidberg defends his wild gyrations saying that “subjective perceptions become reality.” That’s too esoteric. I don’t need a throughplot. I enjoy the movie as a collage of scenes that show what kinds of things that can happen anytime a dancer goes to work. Of course, not everything that could happen will occur in a single gig—except in this wild movie.

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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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L'Orfeo

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Monteverdi L'Orfeo opera to a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. Co-directed 2017 by Sir John Eliiot Gardiner and Elsa Rooke at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Stars Krystian Adam (Orfeo), Hana Blažíková (La Musica / Euridice), Lucile Richardot (Messaggiera), Francesca Boncompagni (Proserpina), Gianluca Buratto (Caronte / Plutone), Kangmin Justin Kim (Speranza), and Furio Zanasi (Apollo). Sir John Eliot Gardner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. Lighting design by Rick Fisher; costumes by Patricia Hofstede and Isabella Gardiner. Directed for TV by Sébastien Glas. Sung in Italian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D

This is a “staged” concert verison of L’Orfeo. It’s not an opera performance . . .

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