Rating: 
Summary: Un paradiga: Alessandra Ferri
Review: Pequeña, hermosa, de una línea impecable esta excelente bailarina-actriz (o actriz-bailarina) nos presenta su genuina "Giselle" en un acto único de desafío. Desafiando su físico la Ferri nos deleita con su baile suave, mesurado, certero, deslumbrante; con una actuación que cercana a la perfección nos regala esa Giselle campesina pero de ademanes señoriales, mortalmente enferma pero llena de amor, ingenua, engañada, traicionada amante que en su momento Théophile Gautier soñó. Con un primer acto sublime y un segundo acto al vuelo, la Ferri, nos regala una función para recordar. Hilarión y Albretch, que no llegan a estar a la altura de la Giselle, modestamente cumplen su cometido y logran los clímax dramáticos. Massimo Murru buen bailarín y excelente “partner” acata con mesura las dificultades técnicas de su Albretch y acompaña de manera impecable a la Ferri. El cuerpo de baile se une a la acción dramática y nos regala un cuadro completo sobre todo en la escena de la locura. Qué pena el pas de deux de los campesinos en el primer acto, algo lejos de la era romántica, no es todo lo feliz y armónico que pudiéramos desear. No obstante, esta grabación, sigue siendo una obligada pausa para los amantes de la danza y en especial el ballet, que junto al grabación de Natalia Makarova y Mijail Barishnikov y la grabación de Alicia Alonso y Vladimir Vasiliev junto al Ballet Nacional de Cuba, constituye un paradigma de ese ballet de todos los tiempos: “Giselle”.
Rating:
Summary: Alessandra: un paradigma
Review: Pequeña, hermosa, de una línea impecable esta excelente bailarina-actriz (o actriz-bailarina) nos presenta su genuina "Giselle" en un acto único de desafío. Desafiando su físico la Ferri nos deleita con su baile suave, mesurado, certero, deslumbrante; con una actuación que cercana a la perfección nos regala esa Giselle campesina pero de ademanes señoriales, mortalmente enferma pero llena de amor, ingenua, engañada, traicionada amante que en su momento Théophile Gautier soñó. Con un primer acto sublime y un segundo acto al vuelo, la Ferri, nos regala una función para recordar. Hilarión y Albretch, que no llegan a estar a la altura de la Giselle, modestamente cumplen su cometido y logran los clímax dramáticos. Massimo Murru buen bailarín y excelente "partner" acata con mesura las dificultades técnicas de su Albretch y acompaña de manera impecable a la Ferri. El cuerpo de baile se une a la acción dramática y nos regala un cuadro completo sobre todo en la escena de la locura. Qué pena el pas de deux de los campesinos en el primer acto, algo lejos de la era romántica, no es todo lo feliz y armónico que pudiéramos desear. No obstante, esta grabación, sigue siendo una obligada pausa para los amantes de la danza y en especial el ballet, que junto al grabación de Natalia Makarova y Mijail Barishnikov y la grabación de Alicia Alonso y Vladimir Vasiliev junto al Ballet Nacional de Cuba, constituye un paradigma de ese ballet de todos los tiempos: "Giselle".
Rating:
Summary: Giselle In La Scala
Review: This 1996 production of the Romantic classic "Giselle" ballet was staged and performed for the opera theatre La Scala in Milan, Italy. The production stars Allesandra Ferri in the title role. This version is one of two I've seen that I feel are quite good as far as visually and choreography. There is another one which is obscure with another A-list ballerina who is more into character, especially in Giselle's Mad Scene and Death Scene. The dancers in this production are doing an excellent job and Allesandra Ferri as Giselle is suitable. What most grabs me abou this production is the visuals. The scenery and sets, costumes and the shots of La Scala's auditorium, with its lights, golden tiers and plush red carpets. La Scala is mostly an opera house but now and then they have ballets performed on stage. Giselle was originally a German fairy tale or folk tale. The male dancer Jules Perrot, who was the ballet instructor at the Paris Opera Ballet in the 19th century, decided to put the story into a ballet and choreographed the dances. Soon, it was enjoying great successes and all the lead ballerinas of the day were dancing the role. The role is still a very juicy and career-boosting opportunity for ballerinas today. Giselle tells the story of a village girl who is engaged to a village man. Her mother is the operator of a country inn. When Albrecht, a prince, comes to the village and the surrounding forest to hunt, he falls for Giselle. He does not reveal his identity and Giselle is under the impression he is a wealthy hunter. Hilarion, Giselle's husband-to-be, is jealous and bitter that Giselle has fallen for Albrecht. Hilarion soon tears off the mask of Albrecht's disguising. Not only is he a prince, but he is engaged to marry an aristocratic lady. When Giselle learns of the deception, she becomes insane and dies. That is only Act 1. Act 2 deals with Albrecht's mourning of Giselle and his encounter with the Willis, the ghosts of women dressed in white gowns the young virgins who died before their wedding day. They are lead by Martha or sometimes called Myrtha, the Queen of the Willis. Giselle is among them. When they threaten to kill Albrecht, Giselle intervenes and saves him. But they can never be together as they inhabit different worlds - Albrecht the world of the living and the day and Giselle the world of the dead and the night. The ballet was considered the first true Romantic ballet-blanc, originating the tradition of ballerinas in the corps wearing white. Later, this would be seen in La Bayadere and most prominently in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
Rating:
Summary: Giselle In La Scala
Review: This 1996 production of the Romantic classic "Giselle" ballet was staged and performed for the opera theatre La Scala in Milan, Italy. The production stars Allesandra Ferri in the title role. This version is one of two I've seen that I feel are quite good as far as visually and choreography. There is another one which is obscure with another A-list ballerina who is more into character, especially in Giselle's Mad Scene and Death Scene. The dancers in this production are doing an excellent job and Allesandra Ferri as Giselle is suitable. What most grabs me abou this production is the visuals. The scenery and sets, costumes and the shots of La Scala's auditorium, with its lights, golden tiers and plush red carpets. La Scala is mostly an opera house but now and then they have ballets performed on stage. Giselle was originally a German fairy tale or folk tale. The male dancer Jules Perrot, who was the ballet instructor at the Paris Opera Ballet in the 19th century, decided to put the story into a ballet and choreographed the dances. Soon, it was enjoying great successes and all the lead ballerinas of the day were dancing the role. The role is still a very juicy and career-boosting opportunity for ballerinas today. Giselle tells the story of a village girl who is engaged to a village man. Her mother is the operator of a country inn. When Albrecht, a prince, comes to the village and the surrounding forest to hunt, he falls for Giselle. He does not reveal his identity and Giselle is under the impression he is a wealthy hunter. Hilarion, Giselle's husband-to-be, is jealous and bitter that Giselle has fallen for Albrecht. Hilarion soon tears off the mask of Albrecht's disguising. Not only is he a prince, but he is engaged to marry an aristocratic lady. When Giselle learns of the deception, she becomes insane and dies. That is only Act 1. Act 2 deals with Albrecht's mourning of Giselle and his encounter with the Willis, the ghosts of women dressed in white gowns the young virgins who died before their wedding day. They are lead by Martha or sometimes called Myrtha, the Queen of the Willis. Giselle is among them. When they threaten to kill Albrecht, Giselle intervenes and saves him. But they can never be together as they inhabit different worlds - Albrecht the world of the living and the day and Giselle the world of the dead and the night. The ballet was considered the first true Romantic ballet-blanc, originating the tradition of ballerinas in the corps wearing white. Later, this would be seen in La Bayadere and most prominently in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent performance; Ferri shines; major video problems
Review: This is a solid, classically rendered performance of Giselle by a decent cast. The one brilliantly shining star is Alessandra Ferri, who, in my opinion, is among the best at portraying the most emotional and expressive of ballerinas. This performance, which took place at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, around 1995-96, caught Ms. Ferri in her well-seasoned prime. She's a joy to watch. As for the ballet, nothing really stood out. Besides Ms. Ferri, none of the other cast members caused me to jump for joy ... no stupendous efforts; just basic dancing. Neither did I see anything to make me gasp. The stage design and costumes looked pretty familiar, the lighting was fine, and the music came through clearly. One-word summary for everything: satisfactory. Unfortunately, the video problems were serious. The disc cover notes say "Recorded Live in HDTV," but the transfer to DVD was problematic, with one decidedly bad result: the outline of the dancers blurs whenever there is movement. I could overlook this on some occasions, but the glitch persisted. The camera editing was good, but not great. There were several instances during the dancing where some close-ups made me miss the full head-to-toe posture that I prefer when I'm watching dance. This may not bother other viewers who like to get as many closer-up views of the characters' faces as possible. Another glaring video distraction had to do with a particular camera that was positioned in the back of the orchestra pit, right about at stage level. Aside from having way too low of a vantage point, this camera created a distortion characteristic of wide-angle lenses, whereby the images at the edge of the frame move in rotational fashion as the camera pans from side to side. Further, the camera was operated remotely, and seemed to swivel in one plane, thus creating a kind of "robotic" movement. I don't understand why this was even used, since there was another camera, also centrally located but higher up, which rendered a far more natural perspective. I would recommend this DVD to most viewers except some ballet fanatics and others who are sensitive to flawed video work.
Rating:
Summary: Decent performance; Ferri shines; major video problems
Review: This is a solid, classically rendered performance of Giselle by a decent cast. The one brilliantly shining star is Alessandra Ferri, who, in my opinion, is among the best at portraying the most emotional and expressive of ballerinas. This performance, which took place at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, around 1995-96, caught Ms. Ferri in her well-seasoned prime. She's a joy to watch. As for the ballet, nothing really stood out. Besides Ms. Ferri, none of the other cast members caused me to jump for joy ... no stupendous efforts; just basic dancing. Neither did I see anything to make me gasp. The stage design and costumes looked pretty familiar, the lighting was fine, and the music came through clearly. One-word summary for everything: satisfactory. Unfortunately, the video problems were serious. The disc cover notes say "Recorded Live in HDTV," but the transfer to DVD was problematic, with one decidedly bad result: the outline of the dancers blurs whenever there is movement. I could overlook this on some occasions, but the glitch persisted. The camera editing was good, but not great. There were several instances during the dancing where some close-ups made me miss the full head-to-toe posture that I prefer when I'm watching dance. This may not bother other viewers who like to get as many closer-up views of the characters' faces as possible. Another glaring video distraction had to do with a particular camera that was positioned in the back of the orchestra pit, right about at stage level. Aside from having way too low of a vantage point, this camera created a distortion characteristic of wide-angle lenses, whereby the images at the edge of the frame move in rotational fashion as the camera pans from side to side. Further, the camera was operated remotely, and seemed to swivel in one plane, thus creating a kind of "robotic" movement. I don't understand why this was even used, since there was another camera, also centrally located but higher up, which rendered a far more natural perspective. I would recommend this DVD to most viewers except some ballet fanatics and others who are sensitive to flawed video work.
Rating:
Summary: This La Scala "Giselle" is truly divine.....
Review: This performance of Giselle is wonderful in all respects. Particularly noteworthy, in my opinion, is the excellent way it was photographed so that the viewer always has the best seat in the house. The dancing, sets, and costumes are all first rate.
Buy it, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Experience
Review: This performance of Giselle is wonderful in all respects. Particularly noteworthy, in my opinion, is the excellent way it was photographed so that the viewer always has the best seat in the house. The dancing, sets, and costumes are all first rate.
Buy it, you won't be disappointed.
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