This first-ever studio recording of the world-famous Kirov Ballet was made by the award-winning director Thomas Grimm at the Danmarks Radio Århus Dance Studio, the most advanced facility of ist kind. It showcases highlights from their repertoire, both classic and contemporary, and features a galaxy of star dancers, including Larissa Lezhnina, Altynai Asylmuratova, Sergei Vikharev, Faroukh Ruzimatov, Konstantin Zaklinsky, Yelena Pankova and Yulia Makhalina. These Kirov performances may be acquired separately or combined in a mixed bill; Petrushka (50′), Chopiniana (36′), Paquita (37′), Le Corsaire – pas de deux (9′), Markitenka – pas de six (16′), The Fairy Doll (12′), Barber’s Adagio (14′).
Examen
To produce this special television version of his work, which was first conceived as music theatre, Stockhausen worked in close collaboration with television director José Montes-Baquer to exploit to the full the possibilities offered by the electronic media. Video techniques provided the means to create a stunningly innovative mise-en-scène to match Stockhausen’s music, libretto, dance actions and gestures. This performance programme is also available with an introductory interview with the composer, illustrated with rehearsal footage, giving an insight into his creative processes.
A Tribute to Alvon Ailey
This two-part dance tribute to the great black choreographer Alvin Ailey (1931-89) was recorded in studio and features performances of four keys works from the repertoire of the company he founded. The ballets are introduced by Judith Jamison, the dancer and choreographer whose career was nurtured to stardom by Ailey and who succeeded him as director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Programme One: Gary Deloatch leads the company as the jazz musician Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker in Ailey’s For Bird With Love. Inspired by Parker’s music, this dramatic ballet evokes his life in scenes which bear out the maxim that genius has its price: Parker lost his life-long battle with drugs and alcohol in 1955. One of Ailey’s last works was Witness. Set to traditional Negro spirituals, it continued the line of moving pieces he created for solo female dancers. It is danced here by Marilyn Banks. Programme Two: Alvin Ailey created Memoria to celebrate the memory of his friend, the choreographer/dancer Joyce Trisler, after her death in 1979. It is a lyrical work set to music by Keith Jarrett, and features several principal dancers plus corps de ballet. The second part of this double bill is Episodes, a ballet choreographed by Ailey’s protégé Ulysses Dove. It is set to original music by Robert Ruggieri.
Harald Metzkes
Based on a major Berlin retrospective and conversations with Metzkes, this film shows how this first-rate draughtsman uses subject matter drawn from literature and mythology in his work. Metzkes played an important part in the artistic life of the German Democratic Republic and his creative reaction to the political situation he lived through is also brought into focus.
Werner Tübke
This film profiles one of the outstanding artists who remained in the German Democratic Republic, 1949-90, and considers his art within the context of the political constraints that shaped his work during this period. Tübke is seen at work in his studio, talking about his art and its inspiration. The programme is richly illustrated with examples of his paintings.
Bernhard Heisig
As a member of the oldest generation of artists in the former German Democratic Republic, Heisig played an important role in shaping a school of Realist painting relevant to the social and political conditions. A staunch believer in the importance of history, his depiction of historical themes has been refined over many years. This 35mm film gives an overview of his work and sets it in the context of the political upheavals he has lived through.
Wolfgang Mattheuer
This film looks at the work of one of the artists who enjoyed considerable success in the German Democratic Republic, despite the fact that he mined a seam of elusive and ambiguous imagery, constructing allegories which contained covert criticism of the GDR. An in-depth interview with Mattheuer and a comprehensive survey of his work provide a fascinating insight into his creative genius and his response to the political régime he lived under from 1949 to 1990.
Helen Hayes
The American actress Helen Hayes, whose career spanned six decades, died in 1993. In this portrait, made when she was in her nineties, she revealed herself as never before in a series of interviews about her life in theatre and cinema. There are film clips showing her opposite the likes of Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, and Burt Lancaster and she re-enacts scenes from two of her greatest stage triumphs: Mary of Scotland and Victoria Regina. Colleagues including José Ferrer, Angela Lansbury and James Stewart, contribute to this profile.
Preston Sturges
With a string of blockbuster ‘screwball’ comedies, writer-director Preston Sturges (1898-1959) was Hollywood’s wonder boy in the early 1940s. Unhappily, his talent faded by the fifties. This programme paints an entertaining and moving portrait of a genius doomed by his own success, combining the reminiscences of colleagues and friends with rare photos and generous footage from his landmark films.
W. Eugene Smith
Smith (1918-78) had a passion for social justice which informed his desire to create photographs that were works of art. The war in the South Pacific and victims of industrial pollution in a Japanese village are just two of the subjects he captured in unforgettable images. In addition to showcasing his stunning photos, this profile uses dramatic reconstruction, archive film, and interviews with his family, friends and colleagues, to get close to this brilliant and complicated American.