"Actor: Konstantin Zaklinsky"

• Giselle | DVD | (11/06/2001) from £12.74   |  Saving you £5.25 (41.21%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The strength of the Kirov Ballet's Giselle is also, in a sense, its principal weakness: this is a no-gimmicks, no-frills production in a performing tradition that goes back to the introduction of the work to Russia in the mid-19th century. The advantage of this is that, after all, Adam's ballet is a work of deliberate naiveté, in which a village maiden dies of a broken heart over the mere fact that her lover has deceived her about his social class; there is no subtext here nor any need for any. Galina Mezentseva is more or less perfect, both in the delicate simplicity of her every gesture and movement and in the overall sweetness and devotion that they convey; Konstantin Zaklinsky is an equally fine Albrecht--for once we entirely believe in his absence of malicious intent and welcome his salvation from her vengeful fellow ghosts. Of the others, Gennadi Selyutsky is a slightly melodramatic Hilarion, whose death in terror is a fine piece of high Victorian theatre, and Tatyana Terekhova makes the spirits' leader a figure in whom terrifying justice and vengefulness are united. On the DVD: The DVD has no frills either except for a link to the NVC-arts Web site; the booklet provides a synopsis and, criminally, no other information about either ballet, production or stars. --Roz Kaveney