In celebration of the venue of the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909, a wonderful Stravinsky night at the Mariinsky (ex-Kirov) with the original Nijinsky version of the Rite of Spring for the first time on DVD and the Firebird both conducted by Valery Gergiev.
The Firebird is a Russian folk tale in two scenes commissionned at the young Stravinsky by Diaghilev and premiered at the Paris Opera House in 1910. The ballet was an immediate success. The Ballets Russes enabled the choreographer Fokine could bring his enterprise the right amount of novelty needed to captivate but not clash with the audience.
The premiere of The Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, on May 1913 caused a veritable scandal. The audience was shocked by the primitive violence of the ballet. It was so radically rejected that the ballet was taken off after eight perfomrances. Although long forgotten, thanks to the relentless work of Millicent Hodson, Nijinsky’s original choreography was recreated.
With the collaboration of Naxos
The Firebird
Russian fairy tale in two scenes
Music by Igor Stravinski
Choreography and libretto by Michel Folkine (1910)
The Rite of Spring
Scenes from pagan Russia in two parts
Music by Igor Stravinski
Choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky (1913)
Filmed live at the Mariinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg in June 2008
Mariinsky Orchestra and Ballet
Artistic team
Conductor | Valery Gergiev
Choreographers | Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky
The Firebird
Reconstruction | Isabelle Fokine, Andris Liepa
Set and costumes designers | Anna and Anatoly Nezhny , after the original sketches by Alexander Golovin, Léon Bakst and Michel Fokine
The Rite of Spring
Scene plan | Igor Stravinski y Nicholas Roerich
Reconstruction and staging | Millicent Hodson
Set and costumes designer | Nicholas Roerich
Reconstruction and supervision | Kenneth Archer
Lighting designer | Vladimir Lukin
Cast
The Firebird
Firebird | Ekaterina Kondaurova
Ivan Tsarevich | Ilya Kuznetsov
The Princess of Great Beauty | Marianna Pavlova
Kashchei, the Immortal | Vladimir Ponomarev
The Rite of Spring
The chosen one | Alexandra Iosifidi
300-year-old woman | Elena Bazhenova
Shaman | Vladimir Ponomarev
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