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Rating: 
Summary: A magical performance
Review: As a singer with The Washington Chorus, I had the good fortune of singing "L'enfant et les sortileges" with the National Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center's Festival of France in January 2004. We sang a semi-staged production, with cutouts representing most of the props and scenery. The music and singing were wonderful, and I deeply loved the music, but the visuals left a lot to the imagination (especially from my vantage point at the back of the stage!).After our performance, I was delighted to find the Netherlands Dance Theatre's ballet adaptation of this opera on DVD. All aspects of this DVD are first-rate -- dancing, singing, orchestra, costumes, and set design. The costumes are stunning. I was particularly impressed by the Fire, the Princess. and the Frogs! The dance interpretation was a perfect counterpoint to the singing. Now that I have seen the opera performed this way, it's difficult to imagine it being done better any other way, unless as a cartoon! Maestro Slatkin told the audience before our concert that "L'enfant et les sortileges" was his favorite piece by Ravel, one that "shows the composer at the peak of his powers, in complete mastery of all facets of his art." I certainly grew to love the piece as we rehearsed and performed it. I'm thrilled to have this DVD in my collection. I know I will watch it countless times over the coming years.
Rating:
Summary: A magical performance
Review: As a singer with The Washington Chorus, I had the good fortune of singing "L'enfant et les sortileges" with the National Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center's Festival of France in January 2004. We sang a semi-staged production, with cutouts representing most of the props and scenery. The music and singing were wonderful, and I deeply loved the music, but the visuals left a lot to the imagination (especially from my vantage point at the back of the stage!). After our performance, I was delighted to find the Netherlands Dance Theatre's ballet adaptation of this opera on DVD. All aspects of this DVD are first-rate -- dancing, singing, orchestra, costumes, and set design. The costumes are stunning. I was particularly impressed by the Fire, the Princess. and the Frogs! The dance interpretation was a perfect counterpoint to the singing. Now that I have seen the opera performed this way, it's difficult to imagine it being done better any other way, unless as a cartoon! Maestro Slatkin told the audience before our concert that "L'enfant et les sortileges" was his favorite piece by Ravel, one that "shows the composer at the peak of his powers, in complete mastery of all facets of his art." I certainly grew to love the piece as we rehearsed and performed it. I'm thrilled to have this DVD in my collection. I know I will watch it countless times over the coming years.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not ballet, it is hardly even dance...
Review: I found this DVD highly entertaining: the music was beautiful and dancing was artistically attuned to the fairy tail story. I have never seen a production of this Ravel work. Too bad this beautiful work is not performed more often.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD
Review: I found this DVD highly entertaining: the music was beautiful and dancing was artistically attuned to the fairy tail story. I have never seen a production of this Ravel work. Too bad this beautiful work is not performed more often.
Rating:
Summary: This is not ballet, it is hardly even dance...
Review: There is about 5 minutes of real dancing on this DVD the rest is writhing and silly movement. I love Ravel's music, and wish this company had done his opera music a more justice than this tripe. 99% of it isn't even athletic let alone artistic. Well lit, filmed, and costumed. Too bad the dancing is miserable.
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