Rating: 
Summary: SF CHRONICLE REVIEW
Review: "Essential Ballet" is actually a generous double bill of two gala performances, one in London's Covent Garden, the other in Moscow's Red Square. Both are spectacular. While the unashamedly theatrical star turns are too numerous to mention in detail, a few highlights give an idea of the pleasures to be had here. At Covent Garden, Larisa Lezhina and the great Faroukh Ruzimatov in "Diana and Actaeon" make a dazzling case for the best of Soviet ballet. Altynai Asylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky, while not exactly in their element, bring superhuman intensity to Antony Tudor's "Leaves Are Fading." On a very special occasion in Red Square, Yekaterina Maximova and her husband, Vladimir Vasiliev, dance an "Aniuta" duet that alone is worth the price of the DVD. Ruzimatov and the spry Margarita Kulik sparkle in the "Corsaire" pas de deux, Nina Ananiashvili and Alexei Fadeyechev -- both in heartbreakingly beautiful form -- dance the grand pas from Act 3 of "The Sleeping Beauty." And, yes, Maya Plisetskaya steals the show as only she can do with her version of Fokine's "Dying Swan." Don't miss this one.-Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Ballet might be a more accurate title
Review: A magnificent DVD! Simply breathtaking ! This DVD features excerpts from performances of the Kirov Ballet at Covent Garden and an open-air concert from Red Square in Moscow. It is difficult to know were to start: there are so many exquisite performances on this disc. I will pick out a few (really, you could mention all of them)
The beauty, grace and sensitivity of Julia Makhalina as Odette(with Andris Liepa) in the Adagio from "Swan Lake".
The obvious joy and subtle sadness, coupled with the incredible dancing skill of Altynai Asylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky in " The Leaves Are Fading " (especially the second part); music by Antonin Dvorak.
The unbelievable athletic abilities of Farukh Ruzimatov in his Pas de deux with Larisa Lezhina from Drigo's "Diana and Actaeon". And then there were the young dancers from the Vaganova Ballet Academy doing a wonderful job on Minkus's "Paquita: Polonaise and Mazurka" and also a credible rendition of the Dance of the Mirlitons from Tchaikovsky's " The Nutcracker" Overall, I personally enjoyed the Covent Garden section a little more and yet my favorite piece is probably the Pas de deux from the Act II of Giselle (Adam) by Carole Arbo and Kader Belarbi; the smoothness, the height of the lifts, the glides, the quiet touches and the grace of both performers is simply hard to believe. As a bonus there is a short commentary on the history of ballet by Ruth Leon in the accompanying booklet that is interesting reading. All in all, some of the greatest performances of the greatest ballet works you'll ever find on one disc.
The only thing I would change on this disc is the name: Instead of "Essential Ballet", maybe "Quintessential Ballet" might be more accurate, because I believe you'd be hard pressed to find any better anywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Why compress & eliminate excerpts to include two Galas?
Review: As I watched this DVD, at first I was impressed by the quality of photography of the Covent Garden segment. As far as the dancing goes, Russians dancers lack 'soul'. All you see is dazzling techique. When I came to the Red Square segment, I was delighted to see a couple of French artists in their wonderful rendition of Gisselle pas de deux. I did not enjoy Pliesetskaya's Dying Swan. She was then approaching 70 in her years. She should have retired. I was really incensed when the credits for the Red Square gala came up. There were these names: Julio Bocca, Eleanora Cassano, Vladimir Derevianko, Rose Gad, Noella Pontois & LLoyd Riggins. The final shots even showed these artists taking their bows, but their dance numbers are totally absent from the DVD. It was very insensitive of the producer of the DVD to have eliminated at least three dances, but showed just a glimpse of the six wonderful artists at curtain time. It's most annoying!! Another annoying thing is: the picture on the cover shows a couple in the White Swan Pas de Deux. The female could have been Makhalina, but the male surely is not her partner in this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Brava Maya
Review: Excellent performance from the Russian stars. The only downfall of this DVD is that the sound quality and lighting in Red Square Gala Performance are not good enough. A worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Excellent performance from the Russian stars. The only downfall of this DVD is that the sound quality and lighting in Red Square Gala Performance are not good enough. A worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: very enjoyable
Review: if you enjoy the ballet, this is a must for your dvd library.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars, simply because of the great Faroukh Ruzimatov
Review: This DVD whas not what it makes itself out to be. It says that you get Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty and Paquita.... none of which come in their true form. Many of them do not have the variations or they just have the pas de deux. And when they do have the whole pas de deux, it is quite mediocre. I bought this DVD to see the whole pas de deux, not just bad versions of excerps. Also, the quality of the dancing is quite out-dated. If you were to buy any other video/dvd from that same time period, then you would see that the Russian ballet [is not good] in many ways. Thay have their good aspects...but they need to clean up and compare themselves to the rest of the world. So if you are looking for a half of a decent DVD, or you know absolutely nothing about ballet, then this is what you should buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good! If you don't know [anything] about ballet.
Review: This DVD whas not what it makes itself out to be. It says that you get Corsaire, Sleeping Beauty and Paquita.... none of which come in their true form. Many of them do not have the variations or they just have the pas de deux. And when they do have the whole pas de deux, it is quite mediocre. I bought this DVD to see the whole pas de deux, not just bad versions of excerps. Also, the quality of the dancing is quite out-dated. If you were to buy any other video/dvd from that same time period, then you would see that the Russian ballet [is not good] in many ways. Thay have their good aspects...but they need to clean up and compare themselves to the rest of the world. So if you are looking for a half of a decent DVD, or you know absolutely nothing about ballet, then this is what you should buy.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars, simply because of the great Faroukh Ruzimatov
Review: This is one of my favorite ballet DVDs. This is a great buy for any ballet fans.
Rating:
Summary: Brava Maya
Review: This tape is a must for all ballet lover.Tons of beautiful dancing.Just the "Dying swan" by Maya Plisetskaya alone worths a lot more than what you pay for.Don't miss this one.
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