The Glory of the Bolshoi: Historical highlights from Russia’s world-renowned ballet company

DW Classical Music

Jun 19, 2021
The Glory of the Bolshoi is a collection of excerpts from the history of this now legendary ballet company – from productions which made the troupe a worldwide sensation. The recording dates range from 1913 to 1968; spanning the pre-Communist, silent era through to the late Soviet period. They focus on what can be regarded as the classic Bolshoi style – reveling in a thrilling athleticism, while never neglecting the essential beauty of the dance.

The Bolshoi Ballet is the internationally-renowned, classical ballet company of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi figures amongst the world’s oldest ballet companies. Only with the early 20th century, however – after Moscow became the capital of Soviet Russia – did the company rise to worldwide acclaim. Ever since then, the Bolshoi has been recognized as one of the world’s foremost ballet companies.

Soloists include: Natalia Bessmertnova, Vakhtang Chaboukiani, Ekaterina Geltzer, Musa Gottlieb, Pyotr Gusev, Mikhail Lavrovsky, Olga Lepeshinskaya, Maris Liepa, Ekaterina Maximova, Asaf Messerer, Irek Mukhamedov, Maya Plisetskaya, Marina Semenova, Vasili Tikhomirov, Galina Ulanova and Vladimir Vasiliev.

The works are:

(00:00) Les Sylphides – waltz, 1952
Music: Frédéric Chopin
Choreography: Fokine
GALINA ULANOVA and VLADIMIR PREOBRAZHENSKY

(03:04) Moment Musical – pas de deux, 1913
Music: Franz Schubert
Choreography: unknown
EKATERINA GELTZER and VASILI TIKHOMIROV

(08:47) Moszkowski Waltz, 1940
Music: Moritz Moszkowski
Choreography: Vainonen
OLGA LEPESHINSKAYA and PYOTR GUSEV

(12:29) Swan Lake – White Swan pas de deux, 1946
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Ivanov
MARINA SEMENOVA and YURI KONDRATOV

(16:39) Swan Lake – Black Swan pas de deux (excerpts), 1947
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Petipa
MAYA PLISETSKAYA

(19:16) Ribbon Dance, 1940
Music: Reinhold Glière
Choreography: Messerer and Lashchulin
ASAF MESSERER

(21:32) Boston Waltz – from the film Nastenka Ustinova, 1934
Music and choreography: unknown
MARINA SEMENOVA

(23:23) The Nutcracker – pas de trois, 1953
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Vainonen
ALLA MANKEVICH, EKATERINA MAXIMOVA and VLADIMIR VASILIEV

(24:37) The Nutcracker – Sugar Plum Fairy solo, 1958
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography: Ivanov
EKATERINA MAXIMOVA

(26:36) Sequence of solos: Le Corsaire, Laurencia, Don Quixote, 1960s
Music: Riccardo Drigo, Alexander Krein, Léon Minkus
Choreography: Petipa, Chaboukiani, Petipa
EKATERINA MAXIMOVA and VLADIMIR VASILIEV

(30:39) Spartacus (excerpts)
Music: Aram Khachaturian
Choreography: Grigorovich
1968: VLADIMIR VASILIEV (Spartacus), EKATERINA MAXIMOVA (Phrygia), MARIS LIEPA (Crassus)
1984: IREK MUKHAMEDOV (Spartacus), NATALIA BESSMERTNOVA (Phrygia), MIKHAIL GABOVICH (Crassus)

Sen. Merkley on Voting Rights, the Filibuster & Why Infrastructure Deal Must Address Climate Crisis

Democracy Now! – Jun 24, 2021

Pressure is growing on Democrats to abolish the Senate filibuster in order to pass a major voting rights bill and other legislation. Republicans this week used the filibuster to prevent debate on the For the People Act, which would restore the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court eight years ago. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who is a lead sponsor of the For the People Act and self-described “Chief Filibuster Antagonist,” says Republicans have broken the Senate’s “social contract” of bipartisan cooperation in favor of total obstruction of all Democratic priorities. “The majority makes the decision, not the minority,” he adds. Meanwhile, as much of the Pacific Northwest faces record-shattering temperatures, 30 degrees or more above average, including Merkley’s home state of Oregon, lawmakers in Washington continue to negotiate over an infrastructure bill Democrats say needs to include major new funding to address the climate crisis. Merkley explains why he said, “If there’s no climate, there’s no deal.”

Tragedy and Plague, In Conversation with Professor Oliver Taplin and Fiona Shaw CBE

TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities

Streamed live on Jul 30, 2020

Tell us what you thought of our event this evening: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/feedback-torch

TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of live online events Big Tent – Live Events! This event is part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.

In Conversation with Professor Oliver Taplin and Fiona Shaw CBE

Biographies:

Fiona Shaw CBE Fiona Shaw is an actor and theatre and opera director. Fiona is known for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series (2001–10), as Marnie Stonebrook in season four of the HBO series True Blood (2011), and as Carolyn Martens in the BBC series Killing Eve (2018–present), for which she won the 2019 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. For her performances in the second seasons of Killing Eve and the comedy-drama Fleabag, Shaw received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series respectively.

Fiona has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. She won the 1990 Olivier Award for Best Actress for various roles, including Electra, the 1994 Olivier Award for Best Actress for Machinal, and the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for The Waste Land. Her other stage work includes playing the title role in Medea in the West End and on Broadway (2001–02). She was awarded an Honorary CBE in 2001. In 2020, she was listed at number 29 on The Irish Times list of Ireland’s greatest film actors.

Professor Oliver Taplin, Emeritus Professor of Classics, Magdalen College, Oxford. Professor Oliver Taplin was a fellow of Magdalen College and Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Oxford. Professor Taplin’s main teaching has been in all aspects of ancient Greek epic, tragedy and comedy: Classics, Classics (and Joint Honours), Classics and English, Classics and Modern Languages, Classics with Oriental Studies at Oxford University.

Oliver’s primary focus as a scholar was on Greek drama, especially from the viewpoint of staging and performance. His first book was The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, in which he dealt with the entrances and exits of characters in Aeschylus’s plays. Subsequent books, including Comic Angels (1993) and Pots and Plays (2007) examine vase paintings as evidence for the performance of tragedy and comedy. In 1996, together with Edith Hall, he set up the APGRD (Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama). It is devoted to the international production and reception of ancient plays since the Renaissance. He has also worked with productions in the theatre, including The Oresteia at the National Theatre (1980–81), The Thebans at the RSC (1991–92), and The Oresteia at the National Theatre (1999–2000). Apart from Greek drama, his chief area of interest was in Homer.

Among the general public, Oliver is probably best known for Greek Fire, a celebration of the capacity of Ancient Greek culture to stand the test of time and influence modern art, thought and society. The book accompanied a Channel 4 documentary series of the same name. The book has been translated into five languages. In 2008 Oliver took part in the programme “Greek and Latin Voices” for the BBC where he gave a talk on Homer and translated the Homeric texts for the programme.

Oliver retired as Tutor in Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford in 2008. The same year, Oxford University Press published Performance, Iconography, Reception: Studies in Honour of Oliver Taplin, edited by Martin Revermann and Peter Wilson.

Further related subjects include vase-painting and theatre; performance studies; reception of ancient literature in modern poetry; practical translation workshops. Currently he is working on a broad-brush book on Greek Tragedy, including a critique of Aristotle’s Poetics.

Coronavirus pandemic: Some lost everything while others became millionaires

RT America

Published on Jun 27, 2021

On this week’s episode of Just Press Play, Boom Bust co-host Brent Jabbour joins Roxana Solano to discuss the forever inequality and the current labor shortage in the United States. Just how did the millionaire club grow during covid-9 pandemic, widening the wealth gap?

France: Visitors can once again tour the Lascaux caves through VR | Latest World English News | WION

WION

Published on Jun 27, 2021

Visitors will now be able to tour France’s prehistoric caves through virtual reality. The caves were closed for visitors nearly six decades ago. Watch this report to know more.

Experts: Delta variant to become dominant strain in U.S.

CGTN America

Published on Jun 27, 2021

U.S. government scientists say the Delta variant now accounts for a fifth of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. States are making a big push to vaccinate hesitant Americans.

The Science of Holistic Planned Grazing | Dr. Richard Teague

Savory Institute

Published on Apr 29, 2021

This webinar was broadcast live on Earth Day 2021, featuring Dr. Richard Teague, one of the most well-published researchers studying the ecological effects of Holistic Planned Grazing, referred to as Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing in the literature. In this webinar, Dr. Teague gives an overview of his published work and answers live questions from the audience.

For a curated collection of Dr. Teague’s and others’ peer-reviewed studies on Holistic Management, Holistic Planned Grazing, and other tangential topics, check out Savory’s Science Library at https://savory.global/science-library

Stay connected: https://savory.global/newsletter https://www.facebook.com/savory.global/ https://twitter.com/SavoryInstitute https://www.instagram.com/savoryinsti…

About Savory Institute: Grasslands represent 1/3 of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, but their steady decline has led to a loss of food, water, and climate security. The Savory Institute’s mission is to promote the large-scale regeneration of the world’s grasslands through Holistic Management.

Holistic Management is a systems-thinking approach for managing the complexities of living systems. Through a decision-making framework and suite of planning procedures – including but not limited to Holistic Planned Grazing – Holistic Management gives people the insights and management tools needed to understand nature: resulting in better, more informed decisions that balance key social, environmental, and financial considerations.

2021 could be one of the driest years in a millennium, and there’s no relief in sight

PBS NewsHour

Published on May 28, 2021

Nearly half of the country — from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains and upper Midwest — is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions. That’s expected to get worse throughout the summer. As William Brangham reports, it’s the western states in particular that are taking the hardest hit, and the possibilities for devastating wildfires are at an all-time high.

Our Dying Oceans

Facing Future

Published on Jun 24, 2021

The oceans absorb over 90% of the heat caused by our industrialized civilization, and they are nearing dangerous #TippingPoints of both temperature and acidity. Phytoplankton, at the base of the food chain, are increasingly unable to form their calcite shells, and coral reefs are bleaching out. Unless we act quickly to stop the #CascadingEffects of global warming, and to protect marine habitats, life in the oceans will die out.

Paul Beckwith explains what is happening as the Arctic sea ice melts, losing its ability to reflect sunlight, and releasing the methane that is stored beneath it. “Weirding” weather – dramatic shifts of temperature and more violent storms – result from alterations in the normal patterns of the #JetStream. Overfishing, bottom trolling, and the use of fossil fuels must end if we are to preserve the vital systems of our oceans.

How to Turn Sea Water Into Fresh Water Without Pollution

Terra Mater