Bolshoi's Don Quixote

Honoré Daumier's Don Quixote

Source Wikipedia

Bolshoi Ballet, Don Quixote, streamed live from Moscow, 10 April 2016

It is very easy to enjoy a performance of a ballet one loves. It is very much harder to enjoy a performance of a ballet to which one is indifferent. A good test of a company is whether such indifference can be overcome by the quality of its performance, Yesterday, by its performance of Alexei Fadeyechev's Don Quixote, the Bolshoi Ballet passed that test.

The reasons why Don Quixote has never appealed to me despite such choreographic pyrotechnics as Kitri's fouettés, Basilio's one handed lifts and fish dives are that the story is weak and except for the final pas de deux the score is undistinguished.  The libretto, which owes very little to Cervantes, is not very different from La Fille mal gardée, a much shorter, tighter and generally more entertaining work with its clogs and dancing poultry and Alain swept into the storm by his umbrella. Instead we have some dryads who, despite their prettiness, are something of an irrelevance as they interrupt the flow of the story.

What saved the ballet for me were primarily the performances of Ekaterina Krysanova and Semyon Chudin as Kitri and Basilio which were outstanding. There were also strong performances by Denis Medvedev, Anna Tikhomirova and Kristina Karasyova as Gamache, the street dancer and Mercedes.  There was some great character dancing by Alexei Loparevich as the Don, Roman Simachev as his squire and Andrei Sitnikov as Lorenzo.  If we must have dryads in this ballet, there could be no more delightful dryad queen than Olga Smirnova.  Other aspects of the show that I liked were the sets by Valery Leventhal, particularly the townscape in the first act and the windmills in the second. I also admired Elena Zaitseva's costumes.

The Royal Ballet now has its own version of Don Quixote which was staged by Carlos Acosta. I have not yet seen it on stage but I reviewed the HDTV transmission from Covent Garden in ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield 17 Oct 2013.  I was somewhat underwhelmed by that production too and tried to work out why in More Thoughts on Don Quixote 29 Oct 2013. I can't decide whether I prefer the Fadeyechev version or Acosta's. On the whole I incline towards Fadeyechev who has simplified the work and improved its flow by cutting the tavern scene though he has included elements like the guitar dance and bull fighters without a bull that add nothing to the story.

Fadeyechev was interviewed in the first interval by Katerina Novikova who presents all the Bolshoi's transmissions.  Elegant and fluent in English and French she is a great asset to the company and one of the reasons why I have generally preferred the Bolshoi's transmissions to the Royal Opera House's. Fadeyechev spoke about those inclusions and the music of other composers that has been added to the score which are said to be unique to the Bolshoi.

Novikova also interviewed Makhar Vaziev who is described on the Bolshoi's website as "Ballet Director." He has recently taken over that job title from Sergei Filin who remains with the company as the "Director of Young Artists Ballet Program" though it is not clear from the articles by Ismene Brown Bolshoi abolishes Filin’s job 30 July 2015 Arts Blog and Makhar Vaziev appointed Bolshoi ballet head 26 Oct 2015 Arts Blog what either man's job description will be. Tactfully Novikova avoided that question and asked Vaziev about the differences between the Mariinsky where Vaziev started his career and the Bolshoi which he joined three weeks ago. Vaziev, who seems to be quite a jovial chap, replied that they both had their pluses and both had produced great artists. Galina Ulanova had started in St Petersburg and Maya Plisetskaya in Moscow. For those who are interested in that question, a more detailed answer is given in The Bolshoi Ballet (12 Aug 2010) by The Ballet Bag.

As the Bolshoi are coming to London between 25 July and 13 Aug 2016 (see Bolshoi Ballet Diamond Jubilee) I have found this season's HDTV season particularly useful for selecting what to see (see Live Performances streamed from the Bolshoi and Covent Garden 20 Sept 2015). If I lived in London and had all the time in the world I would have chosen to see all five shows. As I live 200 miles away and have a demanding albeit rewarding full time job I have to confine myself to two. I have chosen to see Swan Lake on 30 July 2016 and The Taming of the Shrew on the 3 Aug 2016. Even though booking has been restricted to Friends of Covent Garden many of the best seats for both shows seem to have been taken. I am not sure how many tickets will be left for the public when the tickets go on general sale later today.

Competition for Cranko: The Bolshoi's Taming of the Shrew streamed from Moscow

Standard YouTube Licence

Even before the housekeeper ambled on to the stage I could tell from the photos that we were in for a treat. They depicted Petruchio's loucheness in the way he wore his hat, the simple set and the timeless costumes. The housekeeper was first on stage well before the maestro. She was elegant, wearing heels, immaculately coiffed.  She sat down on stage to check her make up. She donned a pair of pointe shoes and filed her nails. Then when she was good and ready she ushered in the conductor.

The ballet was very short. It consisted of two acts.   The screening started at 15:00 GMT and we were out by 17:00 but it packed so much in. The dancing was magnificent, particularly the duet between Katherina and Petrtuchio in act II. There were some lifts movements I have never seen before. The most extraordinary was where Petruchio seemed to raise Katherina with his arm stretched like a piston as though she were riding a horse. It must have required enormous strength from him and I guess remarkably uncomfortable for her.

The score was by Dimitri Shostakovich and the choice was inspired. One of the greatest composers for the ballet ever.  Glorious soaring crescendos and humour with his orchestration of Tea for Two for the harmony of the last scene.  Of equal genius was the choreographer, Jean-Christophe Maillot, and his muse, Bernice Copieters who translated it into dance.  So too was Ernest Pignon-Ernest who designed the set and the choreographer's son, Augustin, who designed the costumes.  One of the highlights of yesterday's transmission was Katerina Novikova's interview with Jean-Christopher Maillot and Sergei Filin in the interval and it was there that Maillot acknowledged the contributions of his creative team.

The story kept pretty faithfully to the play with a little lot more prominence to the widow.  Bianco was all sweetness and  grace while Katherina was Scotch bonnet pepper - until she was bedded towards the end of the second act.  Katherina is the star. Hers is the title role and it required a dancer with exceptional technique who was also a remarkable actor. Yesterday that role was danced by Ekaterina Krysanova.  Her Petruchio had to be at least as strong and his role was danced by Vladislaw Lantratov. Olga Smirnova was a gorgeous Bianca. Anna Tikhomirova, .as the housekeeper was in many ways the anchor of the show from the prologue when she patronizingly clapped the entry of the conductor.  I must say a special work for Vyacheslav Lopatin, one of the best character dancers ever, who played Petruchio's groom. His eyes were a picture as he tossed a sheet over his master and bride.

I have often said that Pathe Live had the edge over the Royal Opera House's transmissions though the House has recently raised its game.  Yesterday's transmission from Moscow reached new heights with the interview with Filin and Maillot. It will be interesting to see how Covent Garden responds to the challenge.

The Bolshoi are bringing the Taming of the Shrew to London on 3 and 4 Aug 2016.   Here is a little clip on their YouTube channel. I can't wait to see them live on stage in that show.

Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds - "Jewels" streamed from Moscow

I am something of a fan of the Bolshoi's HDTV broadcasts as readers will recall from my review of Spartacus. They are the next best thing to seeing ballet on stage. In one important respect they are actually better because their engaging presenter Katerina Novikova interviews people like Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi's artistic director, and Merrill Ashley, the US ballerina who helped the Bolshoi stage Jewels.

Ballet goers have seen a lot of Jewels lately. The Bolshoi brought it to London a few months ago (see  Luke Jennings's review in The Observer 18 Aug 2013) and the Royal Ballet has just staged its own version  as an alternative to all those Nutcrackers that appear over Christmas. Choreographed by George Balanchine for the New York City Ballet the work consists of three acts each of which could stand as a ballet in its own right.

The programme notes say that the ballet was inspired by the beauty of the gem stones at the jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels though the Wikipedia entry quotes Balanchine as saying that "The ballet had nothing to do with jewels. The dancers are just dressed like jewels." And so they are: 

• green in the first act to symbolize emeralds the women in romantic tutus dancing to a Fauré score;
• red in the second to symbolize rubies the cast dressed as for a Broadway musical dancing to Stravinsky; and
• white in the third to symbolize diamonds the women in classical tutus dancing to Tchaikovsky.

According to the presenter there was to have been a fourth act where the dancers were to be in blue to represent sapphires but that never came off. A pity though it would have made for quite a long ballet.

Ms Novikova also said that each of those gems or colours was to represent a city that was important to Balanchine and its associated dance tradition. Emeralds were to represent Paris and the romantic ballet as well as wine and perfume and some of the other good things in life; Rubies New York with its razzmatazz and all that jazz; and Diamonds were to stand for St Petersburg and the classical ballet. 

There was a bit of criticism in the press and also in BalletcoForum of the first and second acts but everyone seems to have liked Diamonds and I certainly did.  That act reminded me of Serenade which Balanchine had created over 30 years earlier and which Boston Ballet had performed in London on 4 July 2013 (see 

Boston Ballet: "High as a flag on the Fourth of July!" 7 July 2013). But I liked the lot particularly Emeralds which reminded me of the exquisite Giselle I had seen the night before ("Giselle - Royal Ballet 18 Jan 2014").

The Bolshoi has helpfully published a cast list so that you can see who did what on Sunday. I liked all of the dancers and it would be unfair for me to single any of them out for special praise.  Ms, Novikova did tell one of the principals (I won't say which for the reasons I have just given) that her performance was "stunning" and it was so good to see her smile as she accepted the compliment. The truth is that they were all stunning and although I have my favourites I can give no good reason for my choice.

The next HDTV transmission from Moscow will be Ratmansky's Lost Illusions on the 2 Feb 2014 which alas clashes with Sibley and Crisp at the Royal Ballet School and wild horses will not drag me from another chance to glimpse Antoinette Sibley, my favourite ballerina of all time.