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Mon, 01 May 2006

La Fille Mal Gardee

Heinz Spoerli after Jean Dauberval, La Fille Ma Gardee
Ballet
Herold, Hertel
Kozlova, Jensen, Ris, Henssler
Basler Ballett
Weiner Symphoniker
John Lanchberry
DVD, Deutche Grammophon, Unitel

Ballets are more of a natural for DVD's than symphonies I have to say and even some operas don't fare very well. Most especially the ones where the sets don't stand extended closeup views -- after all the sets weren't actually designed to be examnined in that way. You can also say the same for ballet but the increased movement on stage seems to cancel this out to some extent.

La Fille Ma Gardee is a comic romp that tells of two lovers. It was first performed two weeks before the fall of the Bastille which was quite bad timing for an extended season even if this was the first ballet to be about real people rather than mythical tales of the gods twisted to aggrandize someone close by.

This ballet was revived some years later and the choreography changed in some respects but its charm and fun remain and a lot of ballet fans have found themselves liking it rather more than they thought they would. (Count K)

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