The MTG piece is reprinted below:
There are certain works of art that become synonymous
with the genre they belong to. And surely, when one thinks of ballet, “Swan Lake
Though created in the late 19th century, it
has an evergreen, endlessly renewable quality that allows it to be interpreted
afresh, keeping abreast with evolution in artistic sensibilities. Part of its
appeal lies in its fairy-tale story…deceptively simple but loaded with deep shades
of meaning and symbolism.
In this, Price Siegfried on his 21st birthday
must choose a bride. On a hunting expedition in the forest, he comes across a lake
and a group of swans who turn into beautiful women, headed by their ‘swan
queen’ Odette, with whom he promptly falls in love. She and her maidens are
under an evil spell of the magician Von Rothbart -- a spell which can only be
broken through true love. The prince promises to make her his own, if she will
come to the palace the next day for a big celebration where he will announce
his choice of bride. The magician, who has been on the scene disguised as an
owl, makes an appearance at the party with his daughter Odile, the ‘black swan’.
She is made to look exactly like Odette; and captivates the Prince who swears
his love to her. At that time, Odette, the ‘white swan’ is seen fluttering at
the window; and the Prince, realising his error, rushes to the lake…into which
she jumps, killing herself. After a battle with Rothbart, the Prince follows
her, the spell is broken and the swans become human; the Prince and Odette are seen
united in the hereafter.
All this is set to music of great passion and lyricism,
by the Russian composer Tchaikovsky. Indeed the ballet’s plaintive signature
melody, the ‘swan’ theme associated with Odette and her tragic love, is familiar
the world over in theatres, concert halls, car-horns and ring-tones.
Probably the most famous modern interpretation of the
ballet is in the film “Black Swan” which presents the Odette/Odile dichotomy as
both alter-ego and doppelgänger. There
is even a hugely successful gay version by Matthew Bourne. More conventional
alterations made to the story include Rudolf Nureyev’s Vienna
The choreographer Yuri Grigorovich was the architect
of a legendary production at Moscow
Moreover, the music has been chopped and changed, most
damagingly at the conclusion. The ballet’s climax is originally set to some of
the most gloriously thrilling music ever written, ending with the ‘swan’ theme
resounding in a triumphant peroration of brass, percussion and full orchestra.
Here, the music reverts to the Prelude and ends with a muted reiteration of the
theme, ending in a whisper, leaving the Prince alone onstage and the audience
bewildered as to what just happened.
This production is staged in four scenes and divided
into two halves. The sets for the palace are elegantly devised, with diaphanous
hangings against a cyclorama of streaked sky. By contrast, the lake is drab,
bare and monochromatic in a dull blue-gray, a far cry from the atmospheric
settings one has seen.
The dancing in this production is exquisite…and
bloodless. Maria Alexandrova dances Odette with a pure classicism that is
utterly beautiful to behold; but where is the characterisation, the swan queen’s
vulnerability, her fluttery nervousness and fear giving way to love?
Alexandrova’s Odile has some sparkle but little sense of dangerous sexuality (made
unforgettable by the great dancer Maya Plisetskaya) and is ultimately not
enough of a contrast. And she almost misses one of her 32 fouettés (turns) near the climax of her ‘black swan’ scene with the
Prince.
Among the other principals, Ruslan Skvortsov’s
athleticism and long leaps as Prince Siegfried are impressive; but Nikolay Tsiskaridze is an unmemorable cipher
as Rothbart. However, the young dancer Vyacheslav Lopatin makes an agile, perky
Jester. The corps de ballet dances
with charm and precision, the four Cygnets are a perfectly co-ordinated
delight; but the Spanish and Hungarian Dances lack fire and pizzazz.
The presentation at NCPA’s
Godrej Theatre (on Sunday 14 April) no longer had the severe audio anomalies
experienced at the earlier Met Opera screenings reviewed here. In fact, the
quality of sound was sweet and clear; but it lacked power, being played-back at
an inordinately soft level. The audience was heard complaining bitterly during
the interval, after which there was some improvement…but not enough. This
reviewer was told the recording was to blame; and indeed there may be some
truth in that, since some of the climaxes sounded distinctly compressed.
However, the overall volume should have been much louder, to allow
Tchaikovsky’s magnificent score to shine through.
This has been a recurring problem with
some of the recent Met Opera performances as well, which makes one wonder why
the NCPA doesn’t take the trouble to do a level-check before each screening.
