Tchaikovsky: The Ballets [DVD] [2010]

For heaven's sake ignore "Rob@StOlave's so-called "review", buy this and make up your own mind as you might miss out of a very moving experience.

Firstly, his references to "German" - German ballet? Tchaikovsky = Russian; Stockholm (the Royal Swedish Ballet) = the capital of Sweden. There is absolutely no connection between this DVD and "Germany" in any shape or form. I really cannot see anything in his review which suggests he has ever seen it as there is no reference to anything in it.

Secondly, I've attended the ballet live 4x now over 14 years (twice with my children) - most recently three days ago - and along with 1500 other people in the audience cheered it to the rafters. It's still playing to sell-out houses 16 years after its premier (I booked in July for a December performance) so I guess they must be doing something right.

His description of the video bears no resemblance to what it contains - I have absolutely no idea what he is talking about regarding not seeing people's feet - utter nonsense.
It's an intelligent, brightly lit, magical, evocation of a well-known story told from a Swedish perspective with snowy forests, house interiors, some very imaginative moments (toys and sweets jumping down from trees to dance, flowers melting from walls). and the dancing while maybe not in the heroic, larger than life Baryshnikov - Mukhamedov mould (hardly appropriate in this ballet anyway) is more than adequate and at times extraordinarily beautiful. Some of the lifts during the climactic pas-de-deux are gorgeous. the Bolshoi's performance is utterly boring with drear 1960s sets and wooden dancing by comparison. The Kirov with Gergiev has a similar "human heart" and has some breath-taking visual coups. The Royal Opera House London is a personal favourite and I'll never tire of watching it having seen it many times in the theatre but for something a little different conceived and executed with intelligence, charm, fidelity and beauty, this is very close to my heart. Stockholm has a winner here.

What is truly sad from the aforementioned review of Rob@ is the fact that 15 people claim to have found that review "useful" (how many people has that put off I wonder?) - in what way? The author can't even get basic facts right - and there is absolutely no discussion in his "review" (sic) of the Swedish folk traditions on which the production draws, no reference to any of the dancers individually either as characters or as performers, no reference to anything at all of the least relevance to valuing the piece as art. Yet 15 people found it "useful". How can such nonsense pass as a "useful review". Laughable if it wasn't so sad - be an intelligent human being, buy the DVD and make up your own mind, don't miss out on a life enhancing experience because someone who doesn't know that Stockholm is the capital of Sweden tells you not to.

What a grim performance. When a person is dancing you expect to see their feet most of the time but the camera picked out faces more than feet and individual faces instead of an overview. The dacing was poor and the lighting and sets were dark and grim. Not a light fairy storey but a dark nightmare!!!!! If this is German ballet at its best then its the last German ballet recording I buy.

If you want a children's pantomime with sugar laid on by the ladle full, this production is not for you, but I would thoroughly recommend this version if you are receptive to a slightly darker treatment.
The dancing is superb from all the cast and the music is sublime.
The only reason why I've not given it 5 stars is because, as a previous reviewer mentioned, there seem to be quite a few close-ups of faces that distract from the overall performance.