Adam - Giselle (Cojocaru, Royal Ballet, Gruzin) [DVD] [2008] [NTSC]

Revised review Dec 02/08. (see P.P.S.)

Let me start off by saying that Giselle is my favorite ballet; I love the story, the music and the dance.

This performance was recorded in 2006 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Gardens, London and stars Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobberg in the principal roles.

This is probably the best danced and finest interpretation of this magnificent ballet I've ever seen. I initially saw this at a movie theater with about 200+ people; you could have heard a pin drop during many of the pas de deux between Cojocaru and Kobberg, they were that stirring to watch.

There was so much to like about this performance...let me elaborate,

the Pros:

1.)The costumes for the peasants, the Royal hunting party and Wilis were sumptuous; the sets for both acts were nicely conceived to display the rustic theme for the village in Act I and then the marsh scene in Act II.

2.)The principal dancers, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg gave the performance of a lifetime. Cojocaru has such skill and grace...an easy effortlessness that holds her audience spellbound. Kobberg attains such height with his leaps and jumps that it appears as if he can defy gravity.

3.) The emotion displayed, through facial expression and body language, by both leads was perfect for the situation; their dancing techniques and skills when together, were simply breath taking. Some of the famous lifts in the Act II were, without a doubt, the best I've ever seen in any performance of Giselle.

4.) The conductor, Boris Gruzin, interpretation of Adophe Adam's music was beautifully rendered, complimenting the tone and mood of this ballet that covered both ends of the emotional spectrum.

The Cons:

About the only concern (albeit minor) for this interpretation of Giselle was with regards to the Corps de ballet. Although the dancing through out the entire ballet was excellent, some of the timing of movement and dance steps was slightly off between some couples, particularly in Act I.

Conclusion:
Simply the loveliest Giselle I've ever seen; a Giselle that literally moved me to tears. The emotions shown and skills displayed by Cojocaru during this performance were as close to perfection as anyone could ask.
5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

P.S.
Interestingly, the program accompanying the theater performance I saw stated, 'Legend has it that she (Cojocaru) was promoted to principal at the end of the first performance'. You'll understand why when you've seen this DVD.

P.P.S.
I must admit to a grievous error on my part with my initial review, in which I criticized some of the camera shots and angles. This initial review was based on my viewing of this performance in a movie theater. The home DVD video was much better visually than the performance seen in the movie theater; better because of a much sharper picture as well as less 'close-up' camera shots. I suspect the enlargement that took place to fill an entire movie screen caused some distortion in perception of size and movement, giving the movie house performance a less than perfect visual presentation.
My apologies go out to the producers and editors of this fine DVD for my initial review based on my movie theater experience.

This is a wonderful performance of "Giselle." Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg dance and act wonderfully and help make the ballet's fundamental dramatic point of love and forgiveness very well.

Alina Cojocaru is a perfect Giselle. Her acting is subtle and real, and her Giselle is so vulnerable, trusting and gentle. She is not wild in her "mad scene" but simply broken-hearted, and later, as a ghost, her Giselle loses her girlishness and becomes a tender woman, still in love with Albrecht, still willing to save and forgive him in spite of all. But it is her dancing that makes this version so beautiful. During the first act, she seems to just float around on the air, and as a ghost she seems weightless.

Johan Kobborg also made a wonderful Albrecht, and his dancing is clean and precise. He continually lifts Alina as if she is made of nothing during the second act, helping us believe she really was nothing more than a ghost. He portrays Albrecht as someone genuinely smitten with Giselle, but pursuing her without thinking ahead or remembering his responsibilities. By the second act, though, he seems to be genuinely lost, repenting, and mournfully dancing with her until dawn. And as the curtain fell, I felt that Giselle's forgiveness has brought about a kind of healing for him as well as redemption. I felt he had truly repented, Johan's Albrecht, at the ballet's close.

Marianela Nuñez was cold and cruel as Myrtha, and her dancing was beautiful, graceful and measured. Martin Harvey was also great as Hilarion. Myrtha's two main attendants, danced by Deidre Chapman and Isabel McMeekan, were great and Sandra Conley and Genesia Rosato were also good as Berthe (Giselle's mother), and Bathilde.

Finally, the corps de ballet were wonderful. The peasants' dances, in the first act, and the dances of the wilis, in the second act, were wonderful to behold and shows how strong the Royal Ballet's corps de ballet is. The wilis' dancing was especially haunting, dramatic and beautiful.

Adolphe Adam wrote the music for this Romantic libretto (Saint-Georges and T.Gautier)and choreographers Perrot and Coralli created this 2 act ballet for Carlotta Grisi,in 1841.She had been his pupil,and having become his mistress, gave him a daughter,in 1837.They were never to marry.Later on,Coralli would say that he alone had choreographed it...!
One of the most celebrated ballets ,perhaps the best known and represented one,suffered various revisions - Marius Petipa,as in the present Giselle, (he was the elder brother to Lucien Petipa who had also been the first Albrecht),Nureyev,Grigorovich,etc., but never lost its luminous aura with the ingredients so dear to Romanticism(Death,the Night ,Fate ,doomed Love and Madness (Walter Scott,Goëthe,etc).
Every ballerina's dream(as in last year poignant documentary on a "corps de ballet" dancer - Véronique Doisneau),has been the glory of several dancers such as Essler, Chauviré, Karsavina, Spessivtseva, Fracci,Ulanova,Markova...
This said,romanian Alina Cojocaru,star of the Royal Ballet,brings it a new life.There are two Giselles in this 2 act ballet:In Act 1,Giselle is an innocent,"naïf" peasant girl ,full of joy ,who tragically finds a treacherous love and dies.In Act 2 she belongs to the world of the dead,integrating the legion of the Wilis( cruel,translucent virgins ),confined to the magic of the night,under Myrtha's command - their queen.
The gracefulness of this portrayed 17 year-old and moving Giselle is completely brought out by this lovely ,highly gifted ballerina.But it is in the complexity of Act 2 choreography that Cojocaru makes all the difference:Slow movements,an extremely beautiful "developpée" (Zakharova's is slightly more impressive ,at la Scala,but totally absorved in her refined technique,expressing in the face either a smile of joy or a rictus of grief throughout the whole performance,thus forgetting to bring out Giselle's inner feelings), her arms being a vehicle of expression as important as the leggs (Russian School).
She becomes aethereal ,the perfect illusion of bearing no weight as a spirit would,on "pointes" or when lifted by Kohborg.Her splendid techique,used with intelligence makes this Giselle deserving to be remembered along with the best ones.Kohborg is a wonderful Albrecht ( his variation beautifully executed) Marianela Nuñez a haughty ,convincing Myrtha and Marin Harvey a very good Hilarion.The "corps" bears the recognised quality of The Royal Ballet,live from Covent Garden,Boris Cruzin conducting with "panache".A most brilliant event.