Is it sad for a composer to only be remembered for one or two items out of a lifetime of accomplishment? Or is it better to be remembered for at least something than to be consigned to the dustbin of forgotten artists, some of whom at least are worthy of at least a little recognition. Adolphe Adam will probably never make it into any classical aficionado's Top Five Composers list, but he does have at least two claims to lasting fame, the gorgeous Christmas carol "O, Holy Night" and, on a much larger scale, the ballet Giselle. In what seems to be a patently strange era for multiple releases on Blu-ray of various classically oriented titles, Giselle now appears on Kultur in this Dutch National Ballet Company version taped live at the Muziektheater Amsterdam, after having received a previous release last year on Blu-ray in a Covent Garden Royal Ballet version as well as a Paris Ballet version. While I'm never one to complain about choices finally being available for the discriminating classical enthusiast, it does strike me as somewhat odd that we're getting multiple releases of titles like Giselle and, as I just reviewed here for Blu-ray.com, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk when so many better known warhorses are either relegated to one, or even no, release. But I digress.
Josef Varga and Anna Tsygankova
Giselle, first performed in 1841, certainly bears the hallmark of a lot of plot tropes for grand ballet, and in fact can be seen as almost a sort of precursor to the tragic elements of Swan Lake. Giselle (Anna Tsygankova) is a simple farm girl who falls in love with visiting Count Albrecht (Jozef Varga), who has disguised himself as a peasant in order to sow a few wild oats before his impending noble marriage. Giselle is in turn loved by local lad Hilarion (Jan Zerer), who manages to discover Count Albrecht's real identity, leading to one of the more patently bizarre moments in all of ballet (and, really, that's saying quite a bit when you think about it), as Giselle manages to dance herself into a tizzy, ultimately dying. (The original version evidently called for Giselle to impale herself on Albrecht's sword, but the replacement costs for tutus may have argued otherwise).
Act II's focus changes radically, as Albrecht, consumed with grief and guilt, comes to an enchanted forest, where the ghost of Giselle protects him from malevolent female spirits known as Wilys, whose aim is to punish errant males by making them dance to their deaths. This act contains some of the most famous ensemble work in 19th century ballet, some of which seems to have obviously influenced Tchaikovsky's similar work in Swan Lake.
Giselle has probably grown a bit stale for modern audiences in the century and a half plus since its premiere. Its simple, though effective, music, much of it redolent of folksong, rarely has the flash and exuberance that later composers (Tchaikovsky chief among them, in fact) brought to bear on the genre. Adam is always competent and wonderfully melodic and lyrical, but he is rarely inspired to the degree that listeners are going to gasp at his compositional brilliance. He is a composer of great merit, technical assuredness and stylistic variety, but his work is probably too tame for a lot of modern day audiences, and will most likely be relegated to that most specious of adjectival categories, "pleasant."
Likewise, while there are arduous technical demands made of the prima ballerina dancing Giselle, in this version culled from Marius Petipa's Imperial Ballet choreography there's that same inerrant competence and technical mastery, while precious little flash and inspiration shine through. Tsygankova is a marvel in this role, to be sure, evincing both the simple minded pleasures of the first act, and the more tormented, emotional chaos of the second, in her acting as much as in her dancing. Her longtime partner Varga matches her hand in hand with a charming athleticism and grace, and manages to evoke some real pathos in the closing moments of the ballet. But is it enough to woo jaded audiences? My hunch is if you're a fan of Giselle, you will find much to like about this production. If you're coming to this version uninitiated, you may in fact find it a yawning bore.
Chief among this Giselle's delights is the simple, but incredibly evocative, stage design by Toer van Schayk. The backdrops here are absolutely gorgeous, brilliantly evoking both the majesty and mystery of far off glades. Costumes are a little less interesting, tending toward a lot of basically drab browns, especially in the first act. Interestingly Boris Gruzin, who conducted the previously released Royal Ballet version on Opus Arte, also lends his baton to this outing, leading the Holland Symfonia. The playing here is excellent and completely competent, if never, like the music itself, inspired.
Anna Tsygankova talks about her long love of Giselle in one of the interviews included on this Blu-ray as an extra (it was the first ballet she saw after starting official ballet school as a child), and it's obvious that to young girls especially, and particularly those dreaming of a career in ballet, this is a role of unusual demands and equally unusual opportunities. Tsygankova is a rare artist who acts as well as she dances, and her wait to play this role, as she discusses in her interview, has made her perhaps peculiarly "ready" for both the technical and emotional demands of the role. Lovers of classical ballet, and Giselle in particular, will no doubt appreciate Tsygankova's apparently effortless mastery throughout this production. For others more used to the sound and fury of modern music and dance, I fear this Giselle will simply seem too old fashioned.
Kultur is relatively new to the Blu-ray game, but they have been doing an overall exceptional job with their 1080i releases of classical titles filmed for television. Giselle is encoded via VC-1 and has excellent detail and some wonderful depth of field. As mentioned above, there's not a whale of a lot of color here, especially in the first act, where the costumes are almost all brown and beige, with the exception of Giselle's blue vest. Nonetheless, the backdrop is beautifully saturated, and the minimal sets bristle with fine detail. Close-ups also reveal a wealth of detail, and you will clearly see the dancers perspiring after the more arduous moments. The second act is bathed in darker hues, especially a nice, cool blue, and black levels and contrast are consistent and excellent throughout. Don't go into this Giselle expecting knock your socks off visuals, but what's here is solid.
Unfortunately Kultur hasn't quite stepped up to the plate yet in terms of lossless audio on any of its Blu-ray releases. This seems patently strange given the music-centric emphasis of the three Blu-rays released by the label thus far. The two Dolby Digital offerings here are OK, I guess, but I kept wondering what a nice lossless track would have offered. I opted for the 5.1 mix here, and it provides an agreeable enough sonic experience, but perhaps because I'm spoiled by lossless tracks on so many (even most) classical releases these days, it just sounded overly compressed, with very little high and low end. Fidelity is fine, if not overwhelming, and there are no dropouts or other anomalies to report, but if Kultur really wants to make an inroad into the admittedly niche classical market, they need to up the ante to lossless audio on their classical titles.
Interviews totalling 43 minutes are included, split into individual segments featuring the principals, all of whom talk about the characters they're portraying, as well as their personal histories with Giselle, and then a nice, longer segment with choreographers Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante, both well known dancers themselves, who adapted the Petipa version for this production.
Unapologetically old fashioned as it may be, Giselle remains one of the paradigmatic roles for prima ballerinas, and Anna Tsygankova acquits herself quite admirably here. If there's little to get really excited about, there's also very little to quibble about in this elegant and perfectly apt production.
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