Have always loved ballet, and Bolshoi Ballet is one of two companies that have productions seen frequently by me at the cinema as live transmissions. The other being the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Regardless of my feelings of the productions, experiencing ballet and opera productions this way has always been an interesting and mostly worthwhile experience, feeling like you're there in the house except you're actually seeing it in a much more accessible way.
This Bolshoi Ballet production of George Balanchine's wonderful ballet 'Jewels', which pays homage to France, America and St Petersburg, lives up to its name, in that it really is a jewel. One of my favourite productions in the history of the Bolshoi Ballet Live from Moscow series. Divided into three acts ("Emeralds", "Rubies" and "Diamonds") set to music by Faure, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, have been very fond of Balanchine's 'Jewels' since my first viewing of it six or seven years ago through the Paris Opera Ballet production. Of the three acts, "Emeralds" is my personal favourite as it for me has the most effective marriage of music, mood and choreography. Though Tchaikovsky is my favourite of the three composers, his third symphony (the least well received of the six he wrote, but it has wonderful things about it like the poignant slow movement, which is especially well used in "Diamonds", and the final one which is the very definition of rousing and grand. While Stravinsky has significantly grown on me overtime.
Visually, the production is very tasteful and pretty to look at. It doesn't do anything fancy or over-elaborate, nor does it look bare, stark and cold. It is lovingly decorated and the costumes in colour and style match the three jewels more than appropriately. "Emeralds" is particularly good in this regard.
Musically, it's similarly spot on. The orchestral playing is ethereal and subtle for "Emeralds", stylish and jazzy for "Rubies" and powerful in a hauntingly beautiful way for "Diamonds", and throughout the sound is enough to transport you to another world. The piano solo in "Rubies" is superbly played. The conducting is authoritative, nuanced and shapes and phrases the music very nicely, both in the high-energy parts and the intimate ones.
Choreographically, 'Jewels' both entertains and entrances. Couldn't help getting emotional during "Emeralds" and was effectively left in a trance, while "Diamonds" is gorgeously elegant, very haunting in mood and also affectionate, other-worldly in the Pas-De-Deux and blazing in the climactic Polacca. The standout though is "Rubies", which is so full of energy and a perfect contrast to the other two, the razor-sharpness and quick-silver quality of the choreography is quite dazzling.
'Jewels' scores highly in the dancing too. The Corps De Ballet, having the most to do in "Diamonds", are poised and beautifully rehearsed, at their most effective in the beginning section of "Diamonds". "Emeralds" is danced with allure and dream-like grace. "Rubies" throughout had a high-energy performance level and was wonderfully witty too in places. "Diamonds" was often hauntingly beautiful in interpretation and it is amazing at how the dancers kept such poise and control without any sense of wobbling in deliberate choreography and tempos in the slower and more intimate moments.
In conclusion, really wonderful. 10/10
