The Kirov Ballet - The Magic Of The Russian Ballet

beautiful dancing and wonderful music but wish the film quality would be enhanced (its a bit old and out of focus which is a pity)

This interesting DVD consists of two parts. The first part ("Kirov Ballet at Covent Garden") is a very good gala performance of divertissements by the Kirov Ballet at the Royal Opera House (in the presence of the late Princess Diana) in 1992. It is conducted by Valery Gergiev. There are eight works in total. Larissa Lezhnina, fresh in her early career, in "Diana and Actaeon" is excellent, displaying her artistry. The young students from the Vaganova Academy are most charming in excerpts from Paquita (polonaise and mazurka) and The Nutcracker.

The programme also includes excerpts from Swan Lake (pas de deux and the Russian dance in Act 2), Paquita (Grand pas) and a polonaise (music only and not danced) from Act 3 of Tchaikovsky's opera, Eugene Onegin. All of them are performed beautifully to the Mariinsky Theatre's high standard.

The second part ("Gala Performance in Red Square") also shows a high standard of dancing. It is another gala performance - this time on a temporary stage in Red Square in Moscow. Most of the dancers comes from the Bolshoi Ballet (Ananiashvili, Ilse & Andris Liepa, Maximova, Vasiliev and Fadeyechev), with some others making guest appearances. The programme, consisting of seven items, includes excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty, The Firebird, Le Corsaire and Don Quixote. Maya Plisetskaya dances the Dying Swan solo with remarkable suppleness for her age. (She was in her 60s then!)

The recording is slightly marred by unsatisfactory camera work - frequent long-distance shots of the stage rather than focusing on the dancers at a shorter distance.

It was wonderful to see a production of Petrouska as I don't think there is another recording of it, but some of the other productions were rather strange indeed - Firebird! The Nutcracker was pretty but all rather blended into itself. Interesting to see the different divertissements, the dancing was superb, but it did feel as if shot in a gymnasium!

This was so dated, and some of the choreography a bit wet. That's not too say all of it but the good bits were few and far between.

Warning - this DVD does NOT contain the Nutcracker.

I am not a ballet expert, but as a lover of Stravinsky's music I've always wanted to see Petrushka, and I found the dancing and staging very watchable. It hadrdly mattered that the score is crudely recorded at such a high level that there is peak distortion and the dynamic range is very narrow.

I also love the Firebird score, but the production is so corny and sugary that I was reminded, in turn, of Dungeons and Dragons, Mills and Boon, and The Singing, Ringing Tree! But the Firebird herself is a delight.

As for the adaptation of Scheherazade (not written for dancing), it is even gaudier and might at least appeal to fans of Rudolf Valentino (if any are still living).

But for Petrushka I'd only give this one star