Gala Tribute to Tchaikovsky / Kiri Te Kanawa, Placido Domingo, Irek Mukhamedov, Darcey Bussell, Royal Opera House

Showcasing works from several Russian composers in memory of Peter Tchaikovsky. The program includes vocal talents of Dimtri Hvorostovsky, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Placido Domingo, who also shares the conductors podium. One of my CD's includes Kiri Te Kanawa singing the Rachmaninoff 'Vocalise', to piano accompaniment, while this Winter Gala features the full orchestral accompaniment. Vocalise is a vocal composition without any words. Adjectives such as sublime, erotic, harmonious, dynamic, florid, exotic, or visceral might all potentially typify an individual's response to, or appreciation of this moment in music. The artist's interpretation showcases the unseen as a thing of beauty.Another encore performance is Placido Domingo's brilliant rendition of one of Tchaikovsky's Six Romances, "Only the Lonely." While conventional English versions of the song exist, the more faithful lyric is soulfully captured by this great talent. I'd also like to note that while I've been exposed to ballet artists whose egos simply spoiled their presentation, that the dancers in this performance aren't just at the pinacle of their profession, but that their joy in their art, and their respect for their audience of this classical form is sincerely appreciative and appreciated.

This is an excellent performance on DVD! Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo are among the well-known opera singers in this performance. There are also several ballet performances, which are beautiful to watch.

A+++++

Perfect

Since this 1993 concert recording is only now being released in the US & Canada, there must have been copyright/contract problems for one or more of the artists involved. To mark the disparity in length of career, singers Te Kanawa, Domingo, Hvorostovsky & others are still performing (infrequently for the semi-retired Te Kanawa), while the Royal Ballet dancers featured have either retired and/or gone on to teaching (except for Leanne Benjamin, still a principal with the company). Darcey Bussell, Lesley Collier & Viviana Durante, the prima ballerinas when this was recorded, have been replaced by Alina Cojocaru, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo and Miyako Yoshida.This gala tribute was for the centenary of Tchaikovsky's death in 1893. It includes some of his most popular pieces, both arias from the operas and dance excerpts from the ballets. But for some reason they also included music by other composers, and its hard to fathom why these were considered better choices than Tchaikovsky's own music. Its not as if they didn't have enough music by Tchaikovsky to choose from. Instead of arias from Rachmaninoff's ALEKO and Rimsky's SADKO they could have selected bits from Tchaikovsky's MAID OF ORLEANS, MAZEPPA or THE LITTLE RED SLIPPERS. It also would have been worth considering choral selections, like his rousing MOSCOW cantata or his haunting ST.JOHN LITURGY.For the dancing, to have Bussell, Collier, Benjamin & Durante together in one evening is worth any price of admission. But the inclusion of part of Kenneth MacMillan's ANASTASIA, set to the same 3rd symphony that Balanchine used for the finale of JEWELS, was also an odd programming choice, in my opinion. I think most ballet fans would have preferred the gorgeous THEME & VARIATIONS of Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's 3rd Suite finale, much more in the celebratory nature of a tribute concert I would think. But others may enjoy the novelty of the little known MacMillan piece. The dancing in it is certainly beautiful, with Viviana Durante in a sweet pas de deux.My disappointment in some of the selections will hopefully not be shared by others, which is all to the good since this is a couple of hours of beautiful music and incredible dancing that's an easy recommendation to classical music fans, and a must-have for ballet fans, even if they already have these former Royal Ballet dancers in videos/DVDs of Tchaikovsky's ballets. And it was a real treat to see that a selection of the neglected opera IOLANTA was included, sung wonderfully by Paata Burchuladze. But I can't help but feel that this DVD could have been even better if it went all-Tchaikovsky, all the time...(You'll notice track listings are given in the product information. This is very helpful, wish it was done in every case for miscellaneous, varied concerts like this).

Not much that to add that hasn't been mentioned already. In answer to the query about why the Anastasia pas de deux was used when the music is that used in the "Diamonds" act of Jewels, or why another Tchaikovsky work like Theme and Variations was not chosen instead - the simple answer is that the Royal Ballet didn't have the rights to perform these works in 1993, although both are in their repertoire now. Anastasia was actually revived around this time, so the duet was of some interest to the audience that frequented the Royal Ballet - granted, if you didn't know the ballet Anastasia, the pas de deux might seem a bit quirky and odd. The other answer to the query about Sylvie Guillem is that she did perform that evening in a duet from William Forsythe's Herman Schmermann with principal dancer Adam Cooper, with contemporary music most definitely NOT by Tchaikovsky, and the style rather at odds with the other pieces included. It is possible that Ms Guillem refused permission for her work to be released on DVD, or that the editors felt the piece was out of kilter with the others in the programme (or most likely both) so the performance was not included in the DVD. No matter - the rest of the performances are so sublime and starry, that you don't really miss it (although it was done well on the night). The DVD suits those who like both opera and ballet, or those who are big fans of Tchaikovsky.