Mats Ek's Carmen
Bizet/Schtschedrin
The Cullberg Ballet:
Ana Laguna (Carmen), Marc Hwang (José), Yvan Auzely (Escamillo), Pompea
Santoro (Micaela), George Elkin, Boaz Cohem.
Choreography Mats Ek: décor and costumes Marie-Louise Ekman
lighting design Goran Westrup
Arthaus 100 182
[51 min] DVD Region
Code: 2,5. PCM Stereo PAL Recorded Stockholm,
1996
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Only 51 mins, but so gripping is this ballet version of Carmen that
we have already Seen&Heard it through three times and enthralled
visitors with it. The DVD reached me at the same time as we had been overwhelmed
by the South African version of the opera Carmen brought to Wilton's
Music Hall by
Broomhill
Opera.
Mat Ek's Carmen is far from a literal version of Mérimée
& Bizet. It concentrates on the four central characters, with Don José
torn between domesticity back home and the allure of the wicked world, and
the fickle and insatiably rapacious Carmen playing her two latest men. The
pervading sexuality is enacted powerfully but without descending to nudity,
and at several points the tension is screwed up with vocal interjections,
but no intelligible words. A violent ending is the only possible one. The
movements and patternings carry astonishing emotional intensity and it is
all turned into searing feeling that drives out questions of literal
interpretation of the familiar tale, which Mats Ek assumes his audience to
know well.
The Rodion Schtschedrin Carmen suite has become deservedly popular
in the concert hall and with percussion-emphasised rhythms has proved well
suited to dancing and used by many choreographers. It makes an effective
aural backdrop to the compelling picture, with good selection of camera angles.
It sounds well.but I find no credit for orchestra or conductor from Arthaus.
Peter Grahame Woolf
