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(More customer reviews)Since this 1993 concert recording is only now being released in the US & Canada, there must have been copyright/contract problems for one or more of the artists involved. To mark the disparity in length of career, singers Te Kanawa, Domingo, Hvorostovsky & others are still performing (infrequently for the semi-retired Te Kanawa), while the Royal Ballet dancers featured have either retired and/or gone on to teaching (except for Leanne Benjamin, still a principal with the company). Darcey Bussell, Lesley Collier & Viviana Durante, the prima ballerinas when this was recorded, have been replaced by Alina Cojocaru, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo and Miyako Yoshida.
This gala tribute was for the centenary of Tchaikovsky's death in 1893. It includes some of his most popular pieces, both arias from the operas and dance excerpts from the ballets. But for some reason they also included music by other composers, and its hard to fathom why these were considered better choices than Tchaikovsky's own music. Its not as if they didn't have enough music by Tchaikovsky to choose from. Instead of arias from Rachmaninoff's ALEKO and Rimsky's SADKO they could have selected bits from Tchaikovsky's MAID OF ORLEANS, MAZEPPA or THE LITTLE RED SLIPPERS. It also would have been worth considering choral selections, like his rousing MOSCOW cantata or his haunting ST.JOHN LITURGY.
For the dancing, to have Bussell, Collier, Benjamin & Durante together in one evening is worth any price of admission. But the inclusion of part of Kenneth MacMillan's ANASTASIA, set to the same 3rd symphony that Balanchine used for the finale of JEWELS, was also an odd programming choice, in my opinion. I think most ballet fans would have preferred the gorgeous THEME & VARIATIONS of Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's 3rd Suite finale, much more in the celebratory nature of a tribute concert I would think. But others may enjoy the novelty of the little known MacMillan piece. The dancing in it is certainly beautiful, with Viviana Durante in a sweet pas de deux.
My disappointment in some of the selections will hopefully not be shared by others, which is all to the good since this is a couple of hours of beautiful music and incredible dancing that's an easy recommendation to classical music fans, and a must-have for ballet fans, even if they already have these former Royal Ballet dancers in videos/DVDs of Tchaikovsky's ballets. And it was a real treat to see that a selection of the neglected opera IOLANTA was included, sung wonderfully by Paata Burchuladze. But I can't help but feel that this DVD could have been even better if it went all-Tchaikovsky, all the time...(You'll notice track listings are given in the product information. This is very helpful, wish it was done in every case for miscellaneous, varied concerts like this).
Click Here to see more reviews about: Gala Tribute to Tchaikovsky / Kiri Te Kanawa, Placido Domingo, Irek Mukhamedov, Darcey Bussell, Royal Opera House (2008)
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