Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16410 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-05
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 170 minutes

Synopsis
Performance of the nineteenth-century ballet by the dancers of the Kirov Ballet. Recorded in 1982.

Customer Reviews

Great technique wasted
The technique of the dancers was superb but, but, but ... The costumes were dowdy and drab, the scenery likewise, the production amazingly banal and above all there was no emotion, no passion, nothing to engage me. I appreciate ballet perhaps more than any other art form but this was just an anaesthetic. Half way through I packed it in. My advice: don't bother with this DVD if there is some paint somewhere you can watch drying.

The Classic !
There is no other "real" Sleeping Beauty than the old Kirov's one! It is the most complete, and the dancers are a dream: Irina Kolpakova at almost fifty still young, Sergei Bereshnoi unsurpassed, and Gabriella Komleva as Diamond unique! Elena Evteeva is the Blue Bird. So many Kirov stars at one performance was even then extraordinary! The evening in 1982 was celebrating 200 years of the Marinsky Ballet Company.
The fairies in the prologue are so marvellous technically and in expression: this is a merciless standard by which to judge all other performances. Only with these fairies in mind you can see how hopeless the situation of ballet has become.

Russian Magic.
I think the Russians do Tchaikovsky wonderfully well. They know just how to capture the fairy tale atmosphere without production techniques and commercial packaging ruining the magic. I enjoyed this production very much. I'm new to ballet and it really cheered me up. Kirov Nutcracker and Swanlake also recommended.