Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes

Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes. In June 2008 the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg presented The Firebird and The Rite of Spring in celebration of the debut of the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909. Special efforts were made to recreate both works as they were originally performed by the Ballets Russes. Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra in both productions.

1. The Firebird stars Ekaterina Kondaurova, Ilya Kuznetsov, Marianna Pavlova, and Vladimir Ponomarev. Choreography and libretto by Michel Fokine (1910) as reconstructed by Isabelle Fokine and Andris Liepa; set and costume design by Anna and Anatoly Nozhny after original designs of Alexander Golovin, Léon Bakst, and Michel Fokine.  

2. The Rite of Spring stars Alexandra Iosifidi, Elena Bazhenova, and Vladimir Ponomarev. Choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky (1913), reconstructed and staged by Millicent Hodson. Set and costume design by Nicholas Roerich, reconstructed by Kenneth Archer. Scene plan by Igor Stravinsky and Nicholas Roerich. Lighting by Vladimir Lukin.

Denis Caïozzi directed both shows for TV and video. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade B+

In 1910 ballet lovers were used to pieces like Swan Lake and Giselle. So try an experiment. Watch the "white acts" from those two popular works and immediately switch to The Rite of Spring. Maybe then you can get some understanding why The Rite of Spring was so controversial when it debuted. The Rite of Spring and the The Firebird were, of course, both produced by the avant-garde Ballet Russes company, which was active from 1909 to 1929.

Although the Ballet Russes shows were hugely influential, they were not long produced. Knowledge about the choreography, the sets, and the costumes was scattered and eventually almost lost. There is a valuable bonus on the disc in which Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer describe their Herculean efforts to research the original productions and revive them. The music and the dancing presented here could hardly be better, and one is convinced that all is true to the original experience.

For anyone specially interested in the history of ballet or the Ballet Russes phenomenon, this is an A++ disc. For others, this is probably not a show that you would want to watch repeatedly. So I suggest that B is the correct grade with a "+" in appreciation of the fine sound, video, and disk authorship provided by BelAir.