Maryinsky Ballet

Mariinsky Theatre: Kirov Classics [VHS]

There's a whiff of the souvenir shop about Kirov Classics, a selection of highlights from the famous ballet company's repertoire. Committed followers will surely prefer to seek out full-length versions of the works presented here. That said, even the expert will find this disc to be a useful snapshot of the choreographic styles associated with the company. We get extracts from Petipa's Corsair and Paquita, Fokine's Chopiniana (a.k.a. Les Sylphides), the Legats' The Fairy Doll and Saint-Leon's Markitenka, while the Kirov's Artistic Director Oleg Vinogradov also gets two items, including Petrushka and the then-daring piece based on Barber's Adagio. All the above may be crowd-pleasers in their different ways, but there's plenty of interesting historical background here, too, such as Pierre Lacotte's painstaking reconstruction of Markitenka from fragmented sources. The performances are of course immaculate, and the quality of both sound and vision also makes this the perfect taster for anyone thinking of acquiring a DVD dance habit. --Roger Thomas