Glazunov: Raymonda
Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet
Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre
Pavel Sorokin
They don't make productions like this any more. The Bolshoi's production of Raymonda may be thirty years old, but Simon Virsaladze's sumptuous costumes and designs remain a stunning visual feast, and that's even without taking the dancing into consideration. And the dancing is most certainly not to be discounted.
Raymonda was Marius Petipa's last great ballet. It's pretty thin on plot, but rich in spectacle, and boasts a wonderful score by Alexander Glazunov which was lovingly rendered by the Bolshoi orchestra. In an age where many bemoan the loss of individuality of the great orchestras, and the increasing 'sameness' of sound of the same, it's nice to hear that at least one Russian orchestra retains its acidity of sound in the brass (trumpets particularly). It's not, perhaps, a beautiful sound, but it's a very characteristic one, which adds piquancy to the orchestral tone colour. Also, even if it went by a little too fast for me to read, it was good to see that the leader and the harpist were individually credited. They have to work hard here, and both acquitted their tasks admirably.
I have to say that if I was a male lead dancer, I wouldn't thank you for casting me as Jean de Brienne. He really only has one or two opportunities to show what he can do, and most of the time serves as prop to the prima ballerina. Par for the course, for classical ballet, you say - yes, but it's even worse here, because he systematically gets upstaged by the bad guy, who has better choreography and a much more exciting role. Or at least, that's the case in this Grigorivich production. I'd like to see another version of Raymonda one day, to see if the problem remains the same, but as things stand at the Bolshoi, the first act really belongs to the corps de ballet - who were superb - while the second belongs to the corps in its character guise, to the interpreter of Abderahman (Pavel Dmitrichenko, compelling), and to the magnificent grand pas d'action, which was absolutely breathtaking.
This was Russian classical ballet at its very best, the poise, the balance, the synchronicity, and then the flamboyant contrast of the Abderahman character. The net result, though, leaves you wondering how on earth Raymonda could be content with the rather milquetoast de Brienne. Although Ruslan Skvortsov is one of the company's stars, he did not show to particular advantage today, not until his very last variation, when we finally got to see the kind of athletic power that marks the Bolshoi's best male dancers.
Maria Alexandrova was a flawless Raymonda. Again, it's a part that does not often require much in the way of emotion, but when it was needed, she was able to produce it as convincingly as she produced the technical fireworks. She has a beautiful line, strong balances, precise pointe work, and an elegant demeanour nicely suited to this part, and despite the question above - how could she prefer de Brienne to the fiery Abderahman? - she was able to supply the answer to that too, by making it clear, without exaggeration, that the Saracen's passion scares her. Her two companions and their cavaliers were also excellent.
The performance was very well filmed by the French video team that assures these Bolshoi broadcasts. They clearly remember what the video team at the Royal Opera sometimes forgets (judging from the broadcast of Fille... last month), that dancing should always be filmed full-figure. The video production was excellent. Sound was not so satisfactory, particularly in Act 1, though we did not suffer the loss of transmission I gather some others did. (The responsible from Pathé Film hinted it might be the fault of the Euro 2012 soccer competition taking up a lot of bandwidth!). However, regardless of that, this was a magnificent show, and really should have been much better attended. I hope that the small number of persons present won't mean an end to transmissions from Moscow, because the company looks to be on sterling form, and I, for one, would love to see more.
[Next: 26th June]
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