Sylvia

Sylvia ballet. Music by Léo Delibes. Choreography by Frederick Ashton with production realisation and staging by Christopher Newton. Performed 2005 by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House. Stars Darcey Bussell, Roberto Bolle, Thiago Soares, Martin Harvey, Mara Galeazzi, Deirdre Chapman, Lauren Cuthbertson, Victoria Hewitt, Sarah Lamb, Isabel McMeekan, Laura McCulloch, Sian Murphy, Samantha Raine, Kenta Kura, Joshua Tuifua, Iohna Loots, José Martin, and artists of the Royal Ballet. Graham Bond conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Assistant Concert Master Melissa Forshaw). Original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside; additional designs by Peter Farmer; stage lighting by Mark Jonathan; directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon. Released 2009, disc has 5.1 PCM sound. Grade: A

Another Volltreffer for the Royal Opera House. Sylvia is a relatively obscure ballet. It was created in 1876, but was mostly ignored until 1952, when Frederick Ashton devised the choreography that's been used, with updating, ever since. Sylvia is a nymph, one of those semi-divine beautiful young women who live in the hidden shadows around springs, meadows, and grottos. Nymphs prefer the company of gods, but they can also mate with humans who are attractive or bold enough to make it happen. Well, Sylvia was a chaste nymph, dedicated to the virgin goddess Diana. But Eros causes Sylvia to fall in love with the good shepherd Aminta, a human. And this makes her susceptible to pursuit by the lecherous and powerful (human) hunter Orion. (That's all you need to know to enjoy the story.) This 2005 ROH production is perfectly cast. Darcey Bussell as Sylvia is sufficiently beautiful---somehow even voluptuous---to make it all seem plausible. Any man she would fall for would have to at least be as handsome as a god. For this the ROH imported Roberto Bolle, the god of La Scala and Milan, to dance Aminta. Thiago Soares as Orion exudes aggression with his scary eyes, odd nose, and twisted smirk. Martin Harvey, compact and lethal, also has the ability to stand as still as a statute for long periods of time, something that must be hard for a ballet dancer. The choreography is completely satisfying. So the dancing of this wonderful cast and the much-admired Delibes score (well-played here, of course) more than make up for any alleged deficiencies in the libretto.

The mise-a-scène is romantic classical antiquity. But the scenery and costumes are executed in a way that doesn't look out-of-date or old-fashioned. The lighting is remarkable. The first act is set in gray and blue against deep shadows; the remaining acts are flooded with an eerie orange-yellow glow. This lighting is pushed to the edge of irritation, but still manages to look both ancient and modern. All this must have been daunting for the camera crews. But they manage to turn in a report with no motion artefacts (at the cost of some soft resolution in the full-stage shots).

It's hard to imagine how one could do a better Sylvia than this one. So this title deserves a place on your shelf right next to your small collection of war-horse HDVD ballets.