Delibes: Sylvia
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Movie Reviews of Delibes: Sylvia
Movie Review: A common man's point of view.
Summary: 5 Stars
This ballet has some of the most beautiful music you will ever have the pleasure to hear. Even Tchaikovsky thought it was the best music he had ever heard. When he heard the music for the ballet Sylvia, Tchaikovsky said that if he had heard Leo Delibes music for Sylvia before he wrote his own music for Swan Lake, he would NOT have written Swan Lake. We should ALL be glad that he did not hear it, because we would not now have the worlds most beloved ballet, Swan Lake.
If for no other reason, one should own this ballet just for the music. It is stand alone quality, as Tchaikovsky's is. However, you also get to see the beautiful and talented Darcey Bussell and very handsome Roberto Bolle, plus a fabulous supporting cast from the corps de ballet perform some extraordinary dancing. The horn passage which is played at Sylvia's entrance is some of the grandest horn music ever written. I think Leo Delibes knew it was good so he let us hear it three times in Sylvia's entrance sequence, and more of it later. (It's also heard in the overture.)
Sylvia is an Amazonian (heroine) huntress who is a protege of the Goddess Diana, and who, in obedience to Diana, has forsaken love. She mocks the statue of Eros, the God of love played by Martin Harvey, who stands so stark still in the opening scene that he seems to be a real statue. The Amazons discover the shepherd Aminta, who is in love with Sylvia, hiding close-by, and during the confrontation, Sylvia, attempting to shoot Eros with an arrow, accidentally shoots Aminta instead. In retaliation Eros shoots Sylvia with a magic arrow, causing her to later fall in love with Aminta. Sylvia realizes she is in love with Aminta and returns to aid him when she is discovered by the evil hunter Orion, played by Thiago Soares, who abducts her and carries her off to his cave where she is held captive. During the second act while Sylvia is held captive, and just after her costume change , there is a melody called CHANT BACCHIQUE that is so utterly beautiful, the Australian Ballet used it in the third act of their production of Coppelia, when the Brides-Maids and Grooms-Men dance to honor the new Bride and Groom, Swanilda and Franz.....The Australian Ballet - Coppelia.....You can find the name of the melody (above) in the chapters menu to help you locate it. See if you agree with me and the Australian Ballet on the beauty of that tune.
It is a great aid in the understanding of the ballet to hear Bussell's introduction before each act. Some of us do not know all these ballets so we can use some information like she gives us. Also, it's nice to see what happens on stage before curtain-rise, another good reason to have a live performance instead of a filmed sound stage version. I thought it was remarkable that Bussell was able to make a complete costume change (in act two) in just one minute and fifteen seconds. She does this in order to fool Orion into thinking he is winning her over to his advances, but she is really going to try to escape from him after getting him drunk. The Royal Ballet version of Sylvia is very good and the orchestra is superb. Also, the British make very good audiences as they know enough to hold their enthusiasm in check until the right moment, and do not interrupt the dancing with applause. Darcey Bussell gives us some very informative comments just before each act, but you can only access them by clicking on the chapters menu.
The REAL beauty in this ballet is in the third act, but I am going to let you find that out for yourself. I promise you will love this ballet......Richard
Movie Review: Lavish, Splendidly Danced and Very Pretty
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Ashton's Sylvia as a Second-Empire entertainement, magnificently danced and sumptuously staged. Darcey Bussell and Roberto Bolle are flawless in roles that are quite difficult yet ironically not showy. They make excellent partners. Soloists and Corps dance in exhuberant good form. The Covent Garden Orchestra sounds primed for Delibes marvelous score, one of the very, very few musical masterpieces to be found among ballet scores. Ashton's choreography is very pretty even if never quite reaching heights of beauty or originality he showed elsewhere, e.g., Symphonic Variations or The Dream, not to mention his re-castings of Petipa. Though I never saw Fonteyn in the part (but did see her in quite a few others), at some points in the choreography, without detracting from the marvelous Darcey Bussell, my mind's eyes would unwittingly summon the image of Fonteyn executing the movements, peculiarly as watching two dancers, one inside the other, dancing the same part. Fonteyn conveyed a sense of wonder about her own dancing while she danced that was unique and most communicative; Ashton knew how best to display it, and we would all be taken in and be made part of it. Hence his choreography for her will always retain an element of reminiscence, however magnificently it may be currently danced, as Bussell does in this performance. This is of no consequence to those who never saw Fonteyn. Those who did can rejoice at this performance for not only will it bring much pleasure on its own merits, but it will as well unmistakably recall, in seeing Sylvia's dances, the great, unique Margot. No sadness here nor nostalgia, just the memory of the beloved, expressive artist on whom the role was created.
One note about the DVD: Darcy Bussell's introductory and concluding short comments do not come on automatically but need to be accessed from the Chapters menu. Otherwise there are no extra features.
For a very different, quite engaging and dramatic use of the same score with vague references to the Sylvia legend, I recommend the version John Neumeier did for the Paris Opera Ballet, also on DVDDelibes - Sylvia / Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnes Gillot, Jose Martinez, Paris Opera Ballet. There is poignancy and modern meditation there about vanished opportunities and choices that cannot be undone; the pizzicato is almost tragic..... All very different from Ashton's pretty entertainement, in dance terms quite thrilling even if the vocabulary is more eclectic. Both Sylvias belong in a balletomane's DVD library.
Movie Review: Two beautiful but very different Sylvias
Summary: 5 Stars
Two beautiful versions of Sylvia are available on DVD, each with its own virtues but with very different approaches to the story. This DVD is a traditional version, choreographed for the Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton. It follows the classic story and it is closely matched to Delibes' music. The other is John Neumeier's reworking of the story as performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, which I reviewed earlier. Delibes - Sylvia / Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnes Gillot, Jose Martinez, Paris Opera Ballet It is intense and psychologically powerful, but it rearranges some of the music as it modernizes the story.
The difference between the two versions is vividly illustrated in the scene where Sylvia and her huntress companions first enter in Act I. In this Royal Ballet version, the women are dressed in short white ballet costumes and carry decorative hunting bows that look like they might have been borrowed from Cupid in an 18th century French painting. It is a pleasing, pretty scene, with the huntresses' steps closely linked to the music in a way that I found appealing. By contrast, the Neumeier huntresses are fierce warriors wearing bicycle shorts, leather vests, and tight leather helmets. They carry long hunting bows that look like the real thing. These women are beautiful, especially after they remove their helmets and release their hair, but they are also powerful and intense. The music is the same for both versions, and both interpretations are pleasing, but they are very different.
Those differences carry through the rest of the ballet. This London version has a clearer story, a villain and a hero, and a happy ending. The steps illustrate the original music closely. It is beautifully danced and it will not disappoint. The Paris version is more intense and more ambiguous in its story; it is a "choreographic poem" (to use a phrase from its bonus feature) that invites interpretation, and it is beautiful in an entirely different way. I liked both performances, and my recommendation is to get both if you can. If you have to settle for only one, the Neumeier version would be my choice.
Movie Review: Spectacular revival of an unjustly forgotten ballet
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1952, Frederick Ashton choreographed his own version of "Sylvia," a ballet originally created and choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1876. The ballet was a vehicle for Margot Fonteyn, then at the height of her career. But for one reason or another, Sylvia never gained any traction as part of the Royal Ballet repertoire. Perhaps it was the fiendishly difficult title role -- Sylvia is onstage and dancing at almost all times, and Ashton filled the choreography with intricate footwork and jump sequences. Perhaps it was the relatively weak storyline. Sylvia is a huntress for the goddess Diana, and she falls in love with a shepherd named Aminta. God Orion gets jealous and kills Aminta, but love (in the form of the god Eros) saves the day. Diana relinquishes Sylvia and all ends happily. There's not much emotional depth, although Ashton infused the ballet with his personal quirks, like dancing goats.
After its premiere in 1952, Ashton tinkered with the ballet and at one point made it a one-act ballet, but it wasn't until 2004 that the Royal Ballet decided to revive Ashton's 1952 production. This video is a souvenir of the revival. Delibes' score is the main reason why I return to Sylvia -- it is absolutely beautiful. You might have heard the pizzacato polka before, or the ravishing grand pas de deux, but the score has no weak spots.
The dancing is uniformly strong. Thiago Soares is the mustache-twirling Orion. Darcey Bussell in the title role is nothing short of spectacular. The role emphasizes all her strengths (her athleticism, beauty, and natural charm) and none of her weaknesses (a lack of real emotional depth). She looks every bit the mythical huntress, but more impressively, she is able to execute both the tricky allegro footwork and the showy athleticism of Ashton's choreography. Her partner is the hunky Roberto Bolle, one of the few dancers tall enough to partner the 5'8" Bussell. They make a beautiful couple. In the grand pas de deux, Bussell performs awe-inspiring backward-leaping fish-dives.
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: In a word.......gorgeous !
Summary: 5 Stars
Ivy Lin's review last month is spot-on. This ballet's music is some of the best there is, comparable with Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda & Midsummer Night's Dream. I was familiar with the beautiful score from a Naxos disc that coupled the ballet with a suite from Saint-Saen's opera Henry VIII. I played it often over the last few years, wondering if I'd ever see a performance, live or video. Last year I saw the Aurelie Dupont DVD was available, but I dislike modern, austere settings/costumes for both ballet & opera, and from more than a few reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, I concluded I should wait for another treatment. I'm glad I did. Ashton's production is beautiful to look at, Darcey Bussell is a charismatic dancer, costumes & backdrop/setting are romantic (as is fitting for the subject, not to mention Delibe's original intentions!) and the music can easily stand alone as a concert piece for any symphony program, which you couldn't claim for some ballet music. I only wish it was longer. This DVD also has a brief, but interesting introduction narrated by Bussell herself. This is a little gem, showing the dancers and backstage crew just before the curtain rises. Some dancers chat together while limbering up, double-checking costumes, while others grab a quick moment by themselves, a bit of solace before the summation of all that practice, rehearsal time, muscle memory, nerves & adrenaline take over before the appreciative audience. Also, the accompanying booklet is thorough and interesting with several nice photos of the production. If you haven't seen this ballet, I urge you to try it. You're in for something special.