'Giselle'

'Giselle choreography-Mats Ek

 

“Giselle“ is seen as the epitome of romantic ballet and ever since its debut performance in 1841, it features among the standard repertoire of countless ballet companies. The acclaimed Swedish choreographer and dancer, Mats Ek, made dance history in the early eighties with his bizarrely unromantic and radically drastic new interpretation of the ballet classic. He interpreted the content and the style of the second act in a contemporary way for the Swedish Cullberg Ballet - one of the most famous modern dance formations in the world. Mats Ek keeps the music of Adolphe Adam: he uses a 1969 recording of the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge that we also hear in this studio recording. The premiere cast of characters, Ana Laguna (Giselle), Luc Bouy (Albrecht), Yvan Auzely (Hilarion), Vanessa McIntosh (Bathilde) and Lena Wennergren (Myrtha), turn the accompanying recording into a fi rst class ballet documentation.

“My version of Giselle is an attempt at retelling the story. For me Giselle – and this applies to the old ballet as well – is about love. Love, which in the old version conquers death. That differs in mine. But love remains the main thing.” Mats Ek

Presto Classical, (2002), available from http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Arthaus%2BMusik/101380 [Accessed 15th March 2012]