Customer Reviews
Great but no Tamara - By: Arthur Wyatt, 07 Apr 2010 
I was there for this perfomance & can be seen on the DVD. I also saw Tamara Rojoin the same production Miyako Yoshida is getting rather old (as we all are) & she never reaches the youthful beauty & stunning emotion expressed by Tamara! What a shame the recording was not that of the Tamara performance. However a great performance fillingin a long awaited gap!
Fonteyn's shadow - By: Jose Brito, 01 Apr 2010 
After several years of research on Perrot's Ondine ( Cesare Pugni's music ) & on Giraudoux's play, F.Ashton set to work on a new ballet far from 19th century romanticism.And he chose a german composer to provide the score. Henze's intention,I'm sure,was to compose music that would sound like(or suggest) water but the result is a most boring,uninteresting,melodiousless flow of notes.Nevertheless, Margot Fonteyn (for whom Ashton created this Ondine)gave life to the nereid Ondine & danced the role with infinite grace,musicality,and elegance,'naive & loving'(as she described Ondine's character) displaying her immense genius as one can watchin Czinner's film (1959)"The Royal Ballet" dancing with Soames.This, unfortunately, is not the case of Miyako Yoshida on this DVD,a down-to-earth Ondine,much absorbedin her choreography to consider dancing her role more like a water spirit she supposedly is.I wish Tamara Rojo would dance on this DVD for I am sure she gave the role, intelligent & sensitive as she is, another colour.Watson dances beautifully but somehow emotionally distant from his partner.José Martinin Act 3 'divertissement' dances skillfully, once more showing his versatility.Costumes are the original ones designed by Lila de Nobili,top note for John Read's lighting design & the The Royal Ballet Corps.Filmedin High Definition, the blu-ray quality is excellent.
