Gesamtwertung 86 %

Tchaikovskis Oper "der Nussknacker" wird von TDK-Music in einer Aufführung aus Stockholm auf DVD veröffentlicht. Wir haben uns die DVD genauer angesehen, unsere Meinung lest Ihr hier...

Studio / Verleih: TDK-Music
Genre: Musik, Oper, Klassik
System: DVD-Video
Release: 10. November 2004

Der Film
Der Nussknacker gehört zu den bedeutensten Werken Tchaikovskis und ist sowohl einfach als auch als kompliziert einzustufen. In Choreographischer Hinsicht ist er weit weniger aufwendig als der Schwanensee oder die schlafende SChönheit. In Punkto Dramaturgie jedoch gilt dies nicht, hier ist der Nussknacker weit schwieriger als die anderen Werke - das war bei der Uraufführung am 6. Dezmeber 1892 genauso der Fall wie auch heute noch.

Informationen des Verleihers
TDK presents on DVD a production from the Royal Opera House in Stockholm: A Swedish “Nutcracker” – a version that interweaves the classical ballet wonderfully with Swedish traditions,

Since its premiere at the Maryinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 6 December 1892, “The Nutcracker” is part of the great three of classical ballets to Tchaikovsky’s music, the other two being “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty”. Even though only the pas de deux for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince has survived from the original choreography for the first production, the ballet is connected to the name of the legendary Russian choreographer Marius Petipa, who commissioned Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840– 1893) to write the music to his libretto. The story of a young girl who dreams of a Nutcracker Prince and a fierce battle against a Mouse King with seven heads is based on “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” written by E.T.A. Hoffman and its later revision by French author Alexandre Dumas senior.

The version seen here was the fifth production of the work in the history of the Royal Swedish Ballet, whose origins go back to the 18th century. It opened in December 1995 and is the work of the then forty-year-old Pär Isberg, who danced for the company as a soloist and is now in international demand as a choreographer. Isberg replaced Hoffmann’s characters with others from Swedish folklore drawn from Peter and Lotta’s Christmas, the immensely popular children’s book by Elsa Beskow (1874– 1953).

Uncle Drosselmayer here becomes Uncle Blue, who brings the nutcracker as a Christmas present for the two children. The nutcracker then turns out to be a charcoal burner who turns into a prince and at the end dances the great pas de deux with the uncle’s housemaid. Also involved are the three Aunts Brown, Green and Lavender. The battle with the Mouse King remains, and the journey on which Peter and Lotta set out in their dream takes them to a winter landscape in which gingerbread, sticks of rock and Christmas biscuits come to life, while the three old aunts perform the Dance of the Sleepwalkers.

Not only does the choreography appear clearly inspired by Swedish folklore, but the designs by Bo-Ruben Hewall and Ann-Mari Anttila – and especially the make-up for Uncle Blue and the Charcoal Burner/Prince, who disguises himself as the Christmas Goat that brings children their Christmas presents in Sweden – also include motifs from Värmland.

The adaptation and variation of the classical ballet libretto is by no means the first. None of the great 19th century ballets has undergone as many revisions as “The Nutcracker”. When premiered, the story had the charm of a nostalgically transfigured childhood memory of happy Christmas Eves. It was left to later generations to discover in this entirely harmless tale a journey of exploration into a child’s psyche, with all its hopes and fears on the threshold of adulthood. As a result, the libretto has been subjected to all manner of adaptations in an attempt to invest the work with the semblance of a logical plot, and, time and again, attempts have been made to salvage something of the drollery of Hoffmann’s original.

But the real dramaturgical and choreographic emancipation of “The Nutcracker” became possible only during the last third of the 20th century, when a younger generation suddenly discovered the theatrical potential of the work, a potential that had lain fallow until then. Choreographers from Yuri Grigorovich and John Cranko to Rudolf Nureyev, John Neumeier, Mark Morris and Heinz Spoerli have been attracted to “The Nutcracker” by the discovery of a psychological dimension to the work as the study of an adolescent, with Clara’s dream on Christmas Eve providing a welcome peg on which to hang their various interpretations.

But no matter which interpretation, there is always the music of Tchaikovsky – from the first success in a concert performance of the score in July 1892 to today it has remained one of the most popular and well known pieces of ballet music. The light and at the same time dramatic music can rightly claim to have added immensely to the ongoing success of this ballet.

Das Bild
Angenehm, ohne Wackler und Bildschäden, nicht auf höchstem Niveau was die Schärfe angeht - aber dennoch sehr positiv - würde ich das Bild der Aufzeichnung beschreiben. Die Kameraschwenks verlaufen harmonisch, was damit auch plötzlicher Ruckler und Unschärfe vorbeugt.

Der Ton
In tonaler Hinsicht weiss die DVD auch und gerade im Raumklang zu überzeugen - nicht nur das Publikum wird über die Rearspeaker wahrgenommen, sonder auch das Orchester. Der Klang verleiht bis zu einem gewissen Punkt den Eindruck, als wäre man mittendrin im Theater, als nähme man direkt an der Aufführung teil.

Die Ausstattung
Wie auch bei den anderen TDK-Classic DVDs finden sich hier keine Extras auf der DVD.

Das Fazit
Der Nussknacker in der Aufzeichnung aus dem Stockholmer Opernhaus ist eine sehr schön zusammengestellte DVD, die gerade auch im Klang zu überzeugen weiss. Für Klassik-Fans und Freunde der Oper eine schöne sache und fast schon eine Pflichtanschaffung.

Die technischen Daten
Produktion: Schweden 1999
Laufzeit: 95 Minuten
Sprache: Musik DD 5.1 | DTS 5.1 | PCM-STEREO
Untertitel: keine
Bildformat: 16:9 Widescreen
Regie: n/a
Darsteller: n/a
FSK: freigegeben ohne Einschränkung
Preis: ca. 28.- Euro

Die Bewertung
Film: 88 %
Bild: 82 %
Ton: 91 %
Extras: keine Wertung
Gesamt: 86 %