Description
Balanchine : Jewels
One of George Balanchine’s most famous ballets, and a great favorite in the Paris Opera Ballet repertoire, danced by an array of stars: Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Laetitia Pujol, Agnès Letestu, Clairemarie Osta, Mathieu Ganio…
George Balanchine and the Paris Opéra always enjoyed a special relationship after Jacques Rouché, the then administrator, offered the young choreographer the post of ballet master in 1929. Balanchine declined the job, but he created several ballets for the company and came to the Palais Garnier regularly to oversee his works. In 2000, seventeen years after his death, a rare and precious ballet arrived at the Paris Opéra: Jewels, a work first performed by the New York City Ballet in 1967.
This alluring, abstract ballet, a triptych in which each piece sparkles with the brilliance of a precious stone, is a lyric tribute to women and to the capital cities of the great dance schools. Couturier, painter and craftsman Christian Lacroix created the glorious costumes and sets which, together with the outstanding performances of the dancers and the sensitive musical direction of Paul Connelly, results in a celebration of sumptuous splendour.
SPECIAL FEATURE : George Balanchine For Ever, a film by Reiner E. Morritz, including interviews with Brigitte Lefèvre, Christian Lacroix, Laetitia Pujol, Clairemarie Osta, Agnès Letestu, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Aurélie Dupont…
Balanchine : Jewels [DVD & Blu-ray]
Choreography : George Balanchine
EMERAULDS
Music: Gabriel Fauré
extracts from Pelléas et Mélisande and Shylock
With Clairemarie Osta (danseuse étoile)
Laetita Pujol (danseuse étoile)
Mathieu Ganio (danseur étoile)
Kader Belarbi (danseur étoile)
Emmanuel Thibault
RUBIES
Music : Igor Stravinsky
Capriccio for piano and orchestra
With Marie-Agnès Gillot (danseuse étoile)
Aurélie Dupont (danseuse étoile)
Alessio Carbone
DIAMONDS
Music : Piotr Illitch Tchaikovsky
Symphony n°3 in D Major
Avec Agnès Letestu (danseuse étoile)
Jean-Guillaume Bart (danseur étoile)
Ballet & Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris
Direction musicale : Paul Connelly
“A gem of dazzling brilliance.” – THE INDEPENDANT
“It is open to doubt whether even Balanchine has ever created a work in which the inspiration was so sustained, the invention so imaginative, or the concept so magnificent.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES
“For Rubies nothing but delight. Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnes Gillot, Alessio Carbonne were electric, super charged, at the head of a fizzing cast, hard edged, hard driven, hard to beat.” – THE FINANCIAL TIMES
“It is crammed with invention and incredible difficulty.” – LE MONDE
HD recording : Opéra national de Paris (Palais Garnier) | 11/2005
TV direction : Pierre Cavassilas
Release date : 05 January 2006
Distribution : Naxos Distribution
1 DVD
Reference : OA0951D
Barcode : 809478009511
Running time: 152 min.
Subtitles (bonus) : FR / ANG / ITA / ALL / ESP
Image : Color, 16/9, NTSC
Sound : PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1
Region code : 0
1 BLU-RAY
Reference : OABD7011D
Barcode : 809478070115
Running time : 152 min.
Subtitles (bonus) : FR / ANG / ITA / ALL / ESP
Image : Color , 16/9, Full HD
Sound : PCM 2.0 & 5.0
Region code : A, B, C
Founded as a production company by Hans Petri in 1999, Opus Arte released its first DVD in 2001. From the outset, the label has been releasing recordings from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, one of the closest and longest-standing relationships they have had. So much so that in 2007 the ROH acquired Opus Arte, which in turn became their in-house DVD label. In 2018 the label joined the Naxos family, although its continues to work very closely with the ROH and maintains its base of operations at the Royal Opera House in London.
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