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Product Description
A Collection Of Timeless Ballets Including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, And The Nutcracker.
Peter Wright’s Production Of The Nutcracker With the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and the Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House
The Sleeping Beauty With The Kirov Ballet and the Orchestra Of The Leningrad Theatre Of Opera And Ballet Conductor Viktor Fedotov Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography Marius Petipa
Swan Lake With The Kirov Ballet and the Kirov Theatre Orchestra Conducted By Viktor Fedotov Artistic Director Oleg Vinogradov
Product Description
Ballet Box Set (3 Dvd)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This is a well presented box-set of three classic ballets, but...
Two of the disks aren't in the PAL broadcasting standard, this means that if either your DVD player, or Television can't display NTSC then only 1 of the three disks is of any use (The Nutcracker). I am unable to offer a review of all the disks here as my DVD player takes issue with NTSC disks and cannot play them.
The Nutcracker DVD seems to have been produced from an old video recording, and the card insert confirms that this was recorded in 1985 - and it looks it. The picture is a bit 'fuzzy', the original video either hasn't been cleaned, or has been done badly. So there appears to be no digital remastering, and as well as the less than satisfactory picture quality we have this presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio. This is a real shame as such a great set would benefit from a picture to really show off the vivid colours of the costumes, and a widescreen aspect ratio to make the most of the beautiful sets.
In a nutshell - I was excited about this, the package is bright and modern, but this doesn't reflect the actual footage. What you get is poor picture quality, poor colour, and quite possibly only the one disk playable on your home set-up. Disappointing.
Two of the disks aren't in the PAL broadcasting standard, this means that if either your DVD player, or Television can't display NTSC then only 1 of the three disks is of any use (The Nutcracker). I am unable to offer a review of all the disks here as my DVD player takes issue with NTSC disks and cannot play them.
The Nutcracker DVD seems to have been produced from an old video recording, and the card insert confirms that this was recorded in 1985 - and it looks it. The picture is a bit 'fuzzy', the original video either hasn't been cleaned, or has been done badly. So there appears to be no digital remastering, and as well as the less than satisfactory picture quality we have this presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio. This is a real shame as such a great set would benefit from a picture to really show off the vivid colours of the costumes, and a widescreen aspect ratio to make the most of the beautiful sets.
In a nutshell - I was excited about this, the package is bright and modern, but this doesn't reflect the actual footage. What you get is poor picture quality, poor colour, and quite possibly only the one disk playable on your home set-up. Disappointing.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Sam Woodward
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I don't know much about ballet, except that I decided I wanted to 'get into' in when I saw the production of 'The Nutcracker' included on this collection one Christmas. Watching it again, I was as mesmerised as the first time by the lavish sets & costumes but moreso the dancing, which conveyed the story brilliantly by the characters exaggerating body language through their movements. This is without doubt the most spectacular Nutcracker I have ever seen.
I have never seen 'Swan Lake' or 'The Sleeping Beauty' performed before but even I in my ignorance have heard of The Kirov Ballet, so knew these would be excellently produced. And I was not disappointed.
However, I'm sorry to say I was rather disappointed by the film quality of these productions. Bear in mind when buying that they were filmed in 1991, 1985 & 1983, so the picture is rather more grainy than on modern DVDs - such a shame they didn't try to digitise them. They are also in the 4:3 old-fashioned TV picture format, rather than widescreen. I personally found this rather distracting for the first few minutes of each production but the magic of these excellent productions soon shone through.
It's also worth noting that 2 of these discs are in the NTSC format but this should only be a problem if your TV is more than about 10 years old or your DVD player doesn't like the NTSC format (which the vast majority do) so won't affect most people.
I have never seen 'Swan Lake' or 'The Sleeping Beauty' performed before but even I in my ignorance have heard of The Kirov Ballet, so knew these would be excellently produced. And I was not disappointed.
However, I'm sorry to say I was rather disappointed by the film quality of these productions. Bear in mind when buying that they were filmed in 1991, 1985 & 1983, so the picture is rather more grainy than on modern DVDs - such a shame they didn't try to digitise them. They are also in the 4:3 old-fashioned TV picture format, rather than widescreen. I personally found this rather distracting for the first few minutes of each production but the magic of these excellent productions soon shone through.
It's also worth noting that 2 of these discs are in the NTSC format but this should only be a problem if your TV is more than about 10 years old or your DVD player doesn't like the NTSC format (which the vast majority do) so won't affect most people.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Andrew Kerr
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Three of the most beautiful ballets of all time have been ruined, by nothing less than greediness and laziness from Warner Music Entertainment.
As rightfully mentioned by several other reviewers, the picture quality is surprising poor. The colour reproduction is over-saturated, and grainy in places, and of course the format is 4:3 which looks dreadful on a widescreen TV. The ballet productions themselves are great with colourful and detailed costumes' and sets but sadly you have to use your imagination to truly appreciate their beauty. I feel that the only excuse for the poor picture quality (which is basically like a straight VHS to DVD copy) is laziness. In this DVD age there is an army of technology for digitally restoring and remastering older productions. Just look at all the old television programs that look great on DVD. Like several others I was shocked when two of the discs wouldn't play for me because of the American NTSC format, I had to play them in the bedroom instead which isn't really a problem, but I don't think everybody will have a player and/or TV capable of playing them which is again a shame. This boxed set was ripe for special features but sadly we are given none, anything would have been nice but, none is just cheek.
Some very poor decisions have been made regarding The Ballet Box. Unfortunately the good packaging and excellent ballet performances aren't enough to justify the price tag and insults. Therefore if you're a fan of ballet, I would suggest you avoid this item as it's probably condemned to end up in the bargain bin. Either stick to better releases or just go and see the performances live.
As rightfully mentioned by several other reviewers, the picture quality is surprising poor. The colour reproduction is over-saturated, and grainy in places, and of course the format is 4:3 which looks dreadful on a widescreen TV. The ballet productions themselves are great with colourful and detailed costumes' and sets but sadly you have to use your imagination to truly appreciate their beauty. I feel that the only excuse for the poor picture quality (which is basically like a straight VHS to DVD copy) is laziness. In this DVD age there is an army of technology for digitally restoring and remastering older productions. Just look at all the old television programs that look great on DVD. Like several others I was shocked when two of the discs wouldn't play for me because of the American NTSC format, I had to play them in the bedroom instead which isn't really a problem, but I don't think everybody will have a player and/or TV capable of playing them which is again a shame. This boxed set was ripe for special features but sadly we are given none, anything would have been nice but, none is just cheek.
Some very poor decisions have been made regarding The Ballet Box. Unfortunately the good packaging and excellent ballet performances aren't enough to justify the price tag and insults. Therefore if you're a fan of ballet, I would suggest you avoid this item as it's probably condemned to end up in the bargain bin. Either stick to better releases or just go and see the performances live.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ballet
I have not watched all the ballets on the CD yet but have really loved the ones I have seen so far.
Published 2 months ago by Yvonne Featherstone
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kirov not at it's best.
I bought this box set because Swan Lake & The Sleeping Beauty are danced by the Kirov Ballet. Very disappointing performances of both; filmed during the Soviet era the performances... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Witherswrinkly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ballet DVD
I purchased this dvd for my 8 year old daughter who is having ballet lessons. It was worth every penny. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2009 by D. O'Dowd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Collection.
As far as ballet goes watching it on DVD is always second best to being caught up in the raw emotion and the simplistic beauty of seeing it live. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Astore Stargazer
3.0 out of 5 stars
Budget ballet
A good-priced item, but you get what you pay for...
As noted by other reviewers, the disk formatting is different, although they all played in my multi-region dvd player. Read more
As noted by other reviewers, the disk formatting is different, although they all played in my multi-region dvd player. Read more
Published on 27 May 2009 by George Rodger
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Video
My first version of Swan Lake I had was on Laserdisc in the late 70's
Things have moved on and this is a well produced and photographed version but as mentioned by others it... Read more
Things have moved on and this is a well produced and photographed version but as mentioned by others it... Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by Ian Mitchell
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Treat from the Cheap Seats
This is a satisfactory introductory boxset for those of us who can't afford tickets to see ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but it leaves something to be desired. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2009 by Ms. V. Hoyle
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ballet Box
As a new ballet viewer this box set was a delightful introduction and each dvd sublime in it's own right.
Published on 3 Feb 2009 by S. Sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful series of ballets
Beautiful performances of classic ballets. If you can't get to see them on the stage, then these performances are the next best thing. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2008 by Tim62
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
This is a difficult item to review as you're unlikely to have bought this or think of buying it unless you like ballet. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2008 by A. Cresswell
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