12 August 2014 at 10.31am | 6 Comments
Loved #Mariinsky Firebird (those serried ranks of monsters! That red, gold and blue...) & absolutely adored DSCH #Ratmanskyness. #Joy
— Catchip (@catchip) August 11, 2014
#Vishneva absolutely riveting as Marguerite. Her technical prowess & unceasing investment in the narrative are both magical. #Mariinsky
— Leena Hassan (@leenahassan) August 11, 2014
Kim shines above a brilliant cast! Concerto DSCH is great fun, with lots of entertaining dancing #Mariinsky
— Sebastian (@Sebastian_G_A) August 11, 2014
Is #Mariinsky's Firebird supposed to be underwater world? (monsters looked to me like sea weeds & corals) The bird didn't drown, thank God!
— Yosh M (@yoshkosh10) August 11, 2014
And with that #Ratmanskyness the #Mariinsky finally won my heart.
— Vampire Soup (@VampireSoup) August 11, 2014
Mariinsky/Ratmansky #ConcertoDSCH was disconcertingly like MacMillan’s Concerto at first, with the “orange people” and “red people”…
— Ruth Elleson (@RuthElleson) August 11, 2014
M&A can be such overacted sentimental nonsense. Didn't move me at all... #Mariinsky
— Fedja Hadrovich (@Hadrovich) August 11, 2014
Loved Concerto DSCH - best of the three in my humble opinion, although Vishneva was a wonderful Marguerite. #Mariinsky @TheRoyalBallet
— Lesley Titcomb (@lesleytitcomb) August 11, 2014
What did you think of the Mariinsky Ballet's Firebird/Marguerite and Armand/Concerto DSCH mixed programme?
12 August 2014 at 10.31am
This article has been categorised Ballet and tagged by various, Mariinsky Ballet, review, Social Media, The Firebird, The Firebird / Marguerite and Armand / Concerto DSCH, twitter, your reaction
This article has 6 comments
Special thanks to the amazing Vladimir Rumyantsev for a great piano part.
Loved The Firebird and blown away by the emotional piano in the next two pieces.
Spellbinding. The Firebird and DSCH both terrific. It's such a privilege to see Mss Lopatkina and Vishneva on stage. Mariinsky really puts things into perspective. I can dream that we will reach their level one day.
Loved the Firebird. Disappointed by M&A, seems dated now and Lopatkina's unique qualities were wasted on that one compared to Swan Lake. The Concerto DSCH was absolutely brilliant, wonderful choreography and such uplifting brilliant music.
I had a wonderful evening on Monday, with the undoubted highlight being Concerto DSCH which exceeded all expectations. Great music set to a modern ballet in which everyone had a good deal to do. It was eye catching, excilarating and certainly woke the audience up at the end of a long evening. Kimin Kim should be singled out for his outstanding acrobatics.
- The Firebird:
Ms Stepanova stepped in as the Firebird, in which a Principal and one of my favourite, Yekaterina Kondaurova, was initially scheduled to perform. Though it was slightly rough around the edges, so to speak, compared with dancer of higher ranks generally, Ms Stepanova’s technique was demonstrated to be solid and her bird "spoke" with eloquence. She was successful in filling Ms Kondaurova’s shoes.
~~~
Mr Smekalov is very tall, expressive and has such stage presence, it is almost incredulous that he is still a Second Soloist. He was splendid as Prince Ivan.
~~~
- Marguerite and Armand
Ms Lopatkina is THE (not “one of”, but I say, “the”) most exquisite dancer of our time. No one else but Ms Lopatkina has that mixture of delicateness, sincerity and purity, innate warmth and soulfulness, genuine forgivingness, and regalness. She has the most profound of expressions. She does so without letting anyone see her strictly disciplined minds and totally controlled body from head to toe (to finger tips); and without needing to show off her skills like most others do.
Her artistry goes beyond just being unequalled; because her soul becomes that of a character, and above all, that of the music; with music, she floats on stage (cheating gravity, as someone else has described; it is a wonder how she can express all the human emotions from the deepest of her heart and with warmth, while she “is” airy and weightless); and her soul transcends audiences into a timeless space, in which we become hypnotised as we breathe in the magical air.
As Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite in my favourite ballet, she was the passion, happiness, devastation, forgiveness, and in the end, death. I hope she will come back to London during the Mariinsky’s next tour here.
~~~
Mr Askerov was a passionate lover to Ms Lopatkina’s Marguerite. He is not the tallest in the Mariinsky, but makes an elegant and sincere prince while regal and eloquent when required.
~~~
- Concerto DSCH:
Upon my first glance at Ms Matvienko’s profile photo, her extremely beautiful facial features suggested as if she were a fragile princess. Oh, no, her minds could be made of steel, though she was far too elegant for that. With her awesome technique, her Solo was absolutely stunning.
~~~
Mr Zverev, very tall noble looking, totally shined in his princely roles.
~~~
After the first night as Mercutio in R&J, Mr Sergeyev has been much talked about for his thoroughly impressive death scene. He is one of the tallest, but also slimmer than most others, it is a mystery where he finds his energy for such engaging performances. With his marvellous technique, who cannot love this dancer? He showed his uniquely super performance in Trio.
~~~
I was also very impressed with Mr Tkachenko, in engaging Trio in Concerto DSCH. I shall look forward to his next appearance.
~~~
Special thanks to the Pianist, Mr Rumyantsev for his outstanding performances of Liszt’s Piano Sonata (Marguerite and Armand) and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (Concerto DSCH)