Search - Winter Dreams / Kenneth MacMillan, Darcey Bussell, Irek Mukhamedov, Viviana Durante on DVD

Superb

James A. Pantano | beacon, new york United States | 03/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"my reason for purchasing this dvd was irek mukhamedov. i love his dancing and i have never been dissapointed with any performance i have viewed him in, and as i expected his performance here is superb. now after viewing this dvd a dozen or so times i would like to offer some additional reasons why i enjoyed this ballet and why you may be interested in aquiring this performance. the royal ballet. if you are an admirer, this performance boast an impressive roster; darcey bussell, viviana durante, and anthony dowell who turn in excellent performances are the more well known among the many dancers featured here. the choreography. sir kenneth macmillan. for those who love his choreography, (and i do) you will not be dissapointed. all of the familiar "macmillanism's" are featured here. sometimes awkward, sometimes elegant, but always engaging. the music. tchaikovsky. beautiful and haunting, this music is non orchestral alternating between solo piano and what sounds like mandolin, violin and piano pieces and is a perfect compliment to the choreography. on the technical, the picture is crisp and clear, the editing is excellent- "arty" in a way thats very different, but not distracting from most ballet dvd's, and the lighting is just right. this appears to be a studio recording and has the "look" of a tv soap opera. if you look at the cover of the dvd box this is exactly how it will look on your tv. in conclusion, winter dreams is a superbly danced and wonderfully produced production that i think any ballet admirer would enjoy."

Mistitled

Hawkeye | Tulsa, Oklahoma | 04/22/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD should be titled "OUT OF LINE-- A Kenneth MacMillan Documentary." The bulk of the DVD is about the choreographer. "Winter Dreams" is a one-act ballet which takes 53 of the 123 minutes. It's an agreeable experiment-- and I, too, was impressed with the lighting (white as if reflected from ice, an orange sun for the romantic pas de deux with Mukhamedov and Bussell, and back-lighting to good effect)-- but it is not the full-length ballet I thought I was buying. MacMillan comes across in the documentary as a paranoid who thinks he is being persecuted-- by the Royal Ballet, Americans, and Berliners-- because his hard-hitting existential ballets are "out of line" with the merely decorative ballets of Frederick Ashton. Of course, tormented artists can be very creative, and MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet is a classic. And Manon was successful. Mayerling-- with much the same wonderful cast as "Winter Dreams"-- is more debatable. Must there be a rape in a ballet to make it authentic?

MacMillan discovered Alessandra Ferri and Darcey Bussell, both of whom prospered under his tutelage. But Ferri left him for ABT on tour, and in my view Bussell's best performance is in Ashton's "decorative" Sylvia. Happily, Mac Millan found a supportive wife late in life and overcame his various illnesses and alcoholism. He had integrity. But if the point of the documentary was to make him a sympathetic figure, it mostly failed. The documentary posed the question whether MacMillan's ballets were autobiographical. Too much so for the unhappy camper he was. When I want troubling realism, I turn to the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal. I go to the ballet for other reasons."

5 star all the way

John A. Smith | north fort myers, fl. | 03/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A beautiful ballet! Everything about this DVD is first class-the dancing, production, photography and the music. Tchaikovsky's piano pieces only prove that he was a melodic genius. This is modern ballet at it's best. Highly recommended."