Raymonda [The Bolshoi Ballet] [VHS]
by Yuri Grigorovich

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VHS Movie Reviews of Raymonda [The Bolshoi Ballet] [VHS]

Movie Review: Lighting is very poor for VHS version
Summary: 2 Stars

Movie Review: Buy the Excerpt Tapes Instead
Summary: 3 Stars

There's some beautiful dancing here from top to bottom. All of the leads are worthy and have some fine moments. I was also impressed by many of the soloists. On the occasions when there are more than one person dancing the same steps, I often found myself admiring their precision and how well in sync everyone was. On occasion, I would even go so far as to say that some of the dancing approached virtuosity.

Yet, although I very much respect the performance that Semenyaka turned in, for me, the Raymonda that moves me the most is still Irina Kolpakova. If you haven't seen her in this role, then I'd recommend that you buy "The Glory of the Kirov" and "Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition, Vol. 3" before you purchase this tape. Quite frankly, the entire ballet gets a little boring at times, and having a really exquisite excerpt tape is worth much more than having the whole performance.

The choreography is by Yuri Grigorovich after Marius Petipa. For me, Grigorovich is a mixed bag. He gave me a couple of tapes that I really value having in my video library, such as the Bolshoi "Giselle" with Natalia Bessmertnova and the Bolshoi "Spartacus" with Vladimir Vasiliev. Yet, he gave me a disappointment in the Bolshoi "Swan Lake" with Bessmertnova, as dancing all of the third act divertissements on pointe really detracted from those numbers, among other things. Fortunately, there are no eccentricities to be found on this tape, and all of the choreography is pretty decent.

Grigorovich is no longer the head of the Bolshoi these days, and I had the opportunity to view his company, the Moscow Grigorovich Ballet, perform their abridged "Raymonda" locally on their tour of the US. The best music from the third act was moved to the first act, and the weakest music from the first act was cut entirely. What little remained of the third act was appended to the end of the second act. After having viewed both versions, I think I actually prefer the abridged version better, because I didn't get bored!

There are a couple of reasons why this is not a first-rate ballet. First, it doesn't have all that great of a libretto. Second, certain parts of the musical score seem uninspired, yet I think it's also fair to say that the best parts of it rival what any other ballet composer wrote. (Fortunately, those best parts can be found on the excerpt tapes that I recommended previously.) Third, the lighting during the dream sequence was too dark, and it reminded me of the Kirov performance of "Sleeping Beauty" with Asylmuratova and Zaklinsky that was also recorded on the Bolshoi stage which had similar problems. When I write a review of a ballet, I try to reserve 5 stars for only the best performances of the best ballets. I mean, does anyone really think that a well-danced performance of "Raymonda" should receive the same rating as a well-danced tape of "Swan Lake"? Well, I don't anyway.

For those of you who enjoy my writing, I invite you to visit my member page. You'll find other reviews of ballet tapes, plus my shared purchases with short comments about many, many more ballet tapes, as well as my ballet favorites listmania list. Thanks for taking time to read my review, and remember, that's "The Glory of the Kirov" and "Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition, Vol. 3" for the excerpts of Kolpakova as Raymonda!

Movie Review: One of the most wonderful ballet I've ever seen
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Great dancers can't compensate for boring ballet.
Summary: 3 Stars

Part of the problem is the monochromatic set and generally dark look of the stage. Then there is the lack of action in the plot, so the ballet is mostly one long string of divertissements, with little variety of style. (In the second act, the choreography for Abderakhman's entourage introduces a different style; unfortunately, it is pretty silly.) And while Glazunov's music is lovely, and a good deal better than the music of many ballet composers, for me it lacks the punch of, say, Tchaikovsky's music, which would keep me awake through the most boring choreography.

However, everything improves in the third act (the wedding). First, the lighting is brighter. Second, even though this act is nothing but a string of divertissements, much of the choreography has a Hungarian flavor, which adds interest. Third, I love this music. This may in part be due to its being so familiar: I've seen many performances of Balanchine's "Pas de Dix," which uses the music from the third act, and more recently I enjoyed the San Francisco Ballet's excellent production of Nureyev's staging of the third act. But maybe the third act music is used so much because it's the most interesting. It was even used for a televised ice dancing production of "The Snow Queen" performed by John Curry's ensemble. (John Curry was the 1976 Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater who created a theatrical skating ensemble that performed pieces by dance choreographers, among them Twyla Tharp, Kenneth MacMillan and Peter Martins.) The highlight of this act is Semenyaka's wonderful rendition of the slow, sultry variation after the pas de dix.

I'm glad I have this video, but really only for the last act. If the production were as colorful and lively as the 1948 Kirov film version, excerpts of which are on "Classic Kirov," I would unreservedly recommend this video.

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• Genres > Musicals & Performing Arts > Ballet & Dance