Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
The Snow Queen
Ballet in two acts
Music by
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Richard Honner
Choreographed by Christopher Hampson
Constance Devernay (The Snow Queen); Bethany Kingsley-Garner (Gerda);
Andrew Peasgood (Kai); Kayla-Maree Tarantolo (The Summer Princess/Lexi);
Bruno Micchiardi (Ringmaster); Gillian Risi (Begona, the Musician)
Scottish Ballet Orchestra/Jean-Claude Picard
Directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon
Design by Lez Brotherston
rec. 13 December 2019, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
1080i Blu-ray disc
Audio formats: LPCM 2.0 and dts-HD Master Audio
All regions
OPUS ARTE Blu-ray OABD7284D [99 mins]
Although Rimsky-Korsakov never composed a full-length ballet, the attractive dance episodes that pop up intermittently in his operas suggest that, had he done so, he might have produced something rather special.
Indeed, over the years his scores have provided plenty of material for choreographers to reshape to their own ends. In
a fascinating essay, Oleg Minin has traced that process back to as early as 1909, less than a year after the composer’s death, when Diaghilev presented his first Saison Russe at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and incorporated some of Rimsky’s music into his dance productions Le festin and Cléopâtre (also known as Egyptian nights - review). Such well-received precedents encouraged the impresario to mount, for the 1910 Saison Russe, a new – if, sadly, not full length – ballet Schéhérazade
(review), based on a musical patchwork created from the symphonic suite of the same name. A year later Paris audiences were treated to an “underwater kingdom” scene danced to music from the opera Sadko.
Since that time, Rimsky’s music has been utilised in several other dance productions, even reaching Hollywood when, in the early 1940s, Warner Brothers released a fully-danced movie Spanish Fiesta, set to Capriccio Espagnol. Although it was a short, 19 minutes long supporting feature that was primarily intended to pad out the presentation of the studio’s regular feature films, its stellar Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo cast including Leonid Massine, Tamara Toumanova, Alexandra Danilova and Frederic Franklin, made it something of a prestige production (an excerpt may be seen on
Youtube).
Arranging some of Rimsky’s music for a new full-length ballet The snow queen was Scottish Ballet’s Head of Music and long-time conductor Richard Honner’s final project before his retirement a couple of years ago. The story, very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 tale of the same name, centres on the rivalry between two sisters, the snow queen and the summer princess, who, possessed of supernatural powers, live together in an ice palace. Running off to the real world and assuming human guise, the princess becomes infatuated with a young man, Kai, but the jealous snow queen uses her powers to enchant him and lead him back to the palace. The summer princess thereupon joins forces with Kai’s earthly girlfriend Gerda to battle the snow queen and return Kai to the real world. The story is, to my mind, the ballet’s weakest point and, even with the assistance of a theatre programme – or, in this case, dance critic Kelly Apter’s useful booklet essay – it remains, I think, somewhat confusing. In particular, the motivations of the snow queen and her sister are, at times, somewhat difficult to fathom, so that their character-focused opening scene, for instance, remains somewhat vaguely delineated. Thankfully, matters improve hugely once the emphasis switches from character to action and we are transported first to a busy town marketplace, made even more colourful by the arrival of a travelling circus show, and then to a gypsy camp, to a darkly threatening wolf-infested forest and, ultimately, to the snow queen’s icy palace.
Mr Honner’s adaptation of Rimsky’s music is taken primarily from the opera The snow maiden. The composer’s admirers will, however, recognise a few other sources. The final pages of the Christmas eve suite, for example, provide the music for a touching pas de deux danced by the reunited lovers Gerda and Kai. And, just as it had done for the Ballets Russe in that Warner Brothers film 80 years earlier, the familiar Capriccio Espagnol makes a most effective musical setting for a lively scene set at the gypsy camp, enhanced on this occasion by on-stage solo violinist Gillian Risi.
Such adroitly conceived musical arrangements, along with Christopher Hampson’s inventive and often striking choreography, offer a wealth of opportunities to the skilled Scottish Ballet company. Bethany Kingsley-Garner makes the most of the role of Gerda, dancing with finely nuanced expression whether portraying a heartbroken girl or a spunky and resolutely determined rescuer. Andrew Peasgood, in the role of Kai, is a good physical match for her and delivers an equally accomplished performance, even though, with his character pretty much reduced to an expressionless automaton while under the snow queen’s magical control, he’s not required to demonstrate an equivalently wide emotional range. The other dancers in the most prominent roles, Constance Devernay and Kayla-Maree Tarantolo as, respectively, the snow queen and the summer princess, also make strongly positive impressions and do their best to add a measure of credibility to their characters’ actions and supposed motivations. A deserved nod also goes to Grace Horler and Jerome Anthony Barnes who deliver, in the scene at the gypsy camp, winning performances as a fortune teller and her husband. The members of the corps de ballet, meanwhile, portray a varied collection of townspeople, travellers, snowflakes and Jack Frosts with skill and enthusiasm and are well supported by the company’s orchestra under the effective direction of Jean-Claude Picard, a conductor who proves invariably attentive to what’s going on onstage and the dancers’ practical requirements.
Those mentions of gypsies and travellers remind me, by the way, that anyone who watches the disc’s final credits to the very end will come across the following notice: Since filming this production in 2019, Scottish Ballet has begun consultation with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community on the representation of travellers within ballet. It may therefore be the case that future performances of The snow queen may look considerably different from this one – and, come to think of it, if Scottish Ballet ever mounts productions of Don Quixote or The two pigeons, for example, perhaps we won’t necessarily see portrayals of gypsies on stage at all. If, however, that consultation exercise with the traveller community does result in some substantial changes to the scenario of The snow queen, perhaps the opportunity might be taken at the same time to clarify the storyline by addressing the issue of the regal siblings’ confusing motivations.
Video director Ross MacGibbon is more frequently encountered focusing his cameras on stage at Covent Garden, but proves, on this occasion, just as effective in his work at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. His typically judicious choice of shots ensures that we miss none of the important on-stage action, while the top-quality Blu-ray image and sound quality deliver a finely preserved recording. While any film of a new ballet production is welcome these days, when the performance is as accomplished as this one it truly deserves an even warmer reception.
Rob Maynard
Previous review (DVD): Raymond Walker
