Очень красивая балерина! Какое утонченное и благородное исполнение! Записи прошлых лет можно смотреть бесконечно и они не наскучат! Это настоящее искусство!
a true Mariinsky ballerina, she has all the qualities... gorgeous physique, lyricism, artistry, musicality and nuances... because she studies each role and appears to really live each role. she was a star, the divine Mezentseva.
yes, as they sometimes say in another context 'she has it all' - such complete and totally satisfying performances - there is nothing wanting - except my want to watch these videos again now! and yes she truly embodies the notion of a Mariinsky ballerina - particularly the purity of style and exquisitely finished technique.
John Hall the way she builds her dance from the base is so organic. then at the same time it's as if she's from out of this world. how i wish to have seen her dance, it must have been a very spiritual thing to watch her dance, totally transfixing and mesmerising
TheBallet1 missed your comment, apologies! yes, all parts of the performance are one part of a whole - not things stitched together with the gaps exposed. to see her live would have been wonderful as so much gets lost in film - there is often something about a performance in the theatre that goes missing in film.
The most sublime and devine rendition of Odette in my eyes. But the first one has more genuine feel and for me the best pas d'action ever for me. In 86, she recovered from severe achiless injury and iskander told us the theater was frozen while they were shooting and Mez suffered a lot. Vinogradov rode too hard of Mez those days, but who else can be replaced? She's my ultimate ballerina!
hi Bnesque i was more moved by the first - at first i thought that when i watched the second the emotions to the chore might have slightly fatigued - but when i watched them again today - second then first - i realised my initial responses were true. yes, a great great ballerina!
John Hall And I have to tell while she was super in these dramatic roles, she was very very special in the role like Aurora. She's very different from the other primas. When you see her dancing Aurora, strangely you come to feel you touch something dreamy, idealistic and devine. You actually feel the way those scores came into the soul of Tchaikovsky. She was a miracle. It's really sad that we lost the track of her.
Bnesque and a pity there is not a full 'Sleeping Beauty' with her as Aurora? i recall an old balletomane telling me about a quality that Svetlana Beriosova had as Aurora - a kind of 'classical grandure and largesse' that i sense in Galina Mezentseva's performance in this role, particularly in: My 4 All Time Favorite Ballerinas in Sleeping Beauty - My Mother's 85th Birthday and again there is something of the particular intensity with which she inhabits this role that makes it very personal, apart from the dance and interpretational qualities.
John Hall Luckily I saw it in full length. It really has grandeur as you say. and I have to add that Neff is partnering. so you can enjoy the DREAMY ATMOSPHERE at its best. and there was my best Florine, Yelana Pnkova, the best Lilac of the era, Lyubov Kunakova. Sitnikova, Chityakova showed their huge professionalism. and there were lot of mimes as you can't imagine. Many deleted scenes by today's shortening were there. Must see for every balletomane.
Чудо из чудес--- Мезенцева...в 1970 так, как она Н и к то не танцевал, и в 1986...какие Плисецкие ...при всем уважении к последней...факты---вещь упрямая
Плисецкая станцевала последнее ЛО в 1977 году. Вы о чем? Зачем вы хвалите одних артистов, пренебрежительно отзываясь о других? Мезенцева родилась в 1952 году, когда Плисецкая уже была состоявшейся балериной.
She is absolutely splendid. What a beautiful video. I think she is unique and exquisite, very beautiful and of a certain elegance and precision in her dancing with absolutely incredible phrasing- syncopated and complex and pristine. Her use of arms extending like a fluttering yet still swan is wonderful. The choreography seems a little different or maybe it's her exceptionalness that makes it so...
l was so lucky having seen her live in more occasions and imo she remains the true kirov essence she was absolutely uncomparable and her umbelivle arms are unmatchable .
yes, wonderfully controlled movement - to be able to express what she wishes rather than technique. she seems i another world - accessible to us, but not of our world. yes i wondered about the chore too - maybe for me it's not being as familiar with Russian 'Swan Lake's as with those in the UK, Europe and the USA
hi kikcta - i'm a late convertee - actually Mezentseva had not really been on my radar but more recently i'm focussed on her and been totally bowled over - in so many ways.
hi oldoperafan i was totally mesmerised by these performances - by their extraordinary focussed expressive intensity. i had to cut more off the beginning of each unfortunately to get under the 15 minute limit. 'an absolutely perfect interpretation' - exactly. i thought side-by-side might be interesting in terms of seeing how Mezentseva developed in the role over the 14 year gap. glad you liked the idea too.
The second performance is, in my view, the more appealing .. She is less the cygnet and more the swan .. Is the music slower In the second? Also Siegfried is different .. Smoother in the second, less young, less raw .. They are obviously more mature .. But if you look at Mathieu Ganio ( or me for that matter lol) maturity is not necessarily an attribute of age. Her performance cured like a fine wine, got deeper, richer, more color! I am a recent convert to Mezentseva .. An seeking (with help) her Giselle .. Her SL is on YT with Zaklinsky ..
judith booth hi Judith. yes, the tempo in the second is a little slower - and 7 minutes something to nine minutes something i noted at one watching for the same chore. and yes, as a ballerina often develops in her career - if she is a great one - she usually finds more in each role, a greater depth of meaning to express, sometimes she finds nuances that were originally broad brush strokes.
absolutely - i couldn't take my eyes off her over the two performances - it's the intensity of commitment to the chore and its meanings that really strikes you.
I believe at some point between these two performances she incurred the terrible injury of snapping her Achilles' heel which some said affected her even after she recovered. Yet she gave performances better than anyone else's of all times.
John Hall I read on YT, I think, that this was due to being forced to rehearse too much by the then management, and all for some contemporary production that was not worthy of her anyway. I wonder if this was one of the reasons she left abruptly as soon as the country opened the borders.
She had a Achilles' TENDON rupture .. As with other dancers ( Herve Moreau had, I believe an ACL tear) .. This is an injury that takes a long recovery and then must be babied after .. Resulting in long term pain .. Dancers are a brave and tenacious lot!!
When Galina was young,she was a young genious,when she was older,she was a mature genious. It's a pity that they filmed her after her injury,but better than nothing anyway. And I prefer her with Mr Zaklinski who suits her better than anyone else. I saw them both in reality,and I can say that I have never seen a more tragic dancer than her,she was unique,overwhelming.
hi Juliet0307 i agree - a unique dancer - even on film she is spell-bindingly powerful. and yes it seems to me she works best with Zaklinski. it's always a question when a dancer is injured or declines a little with age whether to film them - but i am with you - probably better film than not.
Tpediatrapaola No question how divine Mezentseva is but it's no fair to compare a ballerina at the height of her power with a brilliant young one who's been kept down for so long. We are yet to see what yulia can do. And anyway we've got to have something to look forward to, no? ;)
I actually like the first performance better. I like the faster tempo, it doesn't seem to drag out as much. Also she looks more alive or fresh in the first one.
Ok .. I have a question and this seems a good place to ask it .. BNSQUE used PRIMA to describe Mezentseva .. I am not disputing this .. But I would like to know what the criteria are for this accolade? I have heard it used for Eva Evdokimova .. Carla Fracci .. I have read that a Prima does not appear with another Prima . That a Prima dances both classic and modern roles .. That all companies recognize the Prima .. That she is a star in all companies .. Yet Allesandra Ferri is not called Prima nor is Sylvie ( is anyone else called and known y just a first name?) .. Is it a passé term? How do you define it?
Thanks for this .. But the criteria are fuzzy .. Which makes the title pretty well meaningless .. And some of those on the list .. Are " iffy" to put it mildly .. Makes for much confusion on my part!.
judith booth Imo nowadays it has more an emotional meaning. We have it in Germany, too, but it's not a grade, it's a compliment full of admiration. Not sure however, whether it's still a grade in Italy.
The earlier Mezentseva was nothing like the Mezentseva I saw live in Los Angeles in 1986. Truthfully, I found her almost unwatchable. By then, she’d become extremely mannered in her dancing, with her jutting head, her gummy legato, her very spotty technique and her oddly shaped feet which seemed to point only from the metatarsals down. She was also cadaverously thin. Other Odettes were far more pleasing to watch, and I saw them all - the warm and sisterly Olga Chenchikova and the powerful but very feminine Lyubov Kunakova. Both these ballerinas far outshone Mezentseva in their Odettes, and they danced their Odiles with overwhelming technical authority. But the unquestioned star of that week of Kirov Ballet Swan Lake performances in Los Angeles was the extremely charismatic and very beautiful Altynai Asylmuratova.
Aves Raggiana hi - yes, there can be a tendency in performers in dance and singing to go beyond where they are true to something mannered and exaggerated - sad to see in Mezentseva her wraith-like thinness was certainly disconcerting, especially in the context of the near anorexia in dance beginning with Balanchine. i must go and take a look at Olga Chenchikova and Lyubov Kunakova again - thanks for reminding me of these two Odettes!
Where is the softness, gentleness, and roundness of movement. There is no gentle lyricism her and certainly no musicality of phrasing. Technically strong but this rendition leaves me cold .
Очень красивая балерина! Какое утонченное и благородное исполнение! Записи прошлых лет можно смотреть бесконечно и они не наскучат! Это настоящее искусство!
Phenomenal Mezentseva - True interpretation and representation of Kirov/Mariinsky Style. Exceptional!❤❤❤❤❤
a true Mariinsky ballerina, she has all the qualities... gorgeous physique, lyricism, artistry, musicality and nuances... because she studies each role and appears to really live each role. she was a star, the divine Mezentseva.
yes, as they sometimes say in another context 'she has it all' - such complete and totally satisfying performances - there is nothing wanting - except my want to watch these videos again now!
and yes she truly embodies the notion of a Mariinsky ballerina - particularly the purity of style and exquisitely finished technique.
John Hall the way she builds her dance from the base is so organic. then at the same time it's as if she's from out of this world. how i wish to have seen her dance, it must have been a very spiritual thing to watch her dance, totally transfixing and mesmerising
TheBallet1 missed your comment, apologies! yes, all parts of the performance are one part of a whole - not things stitched together with the gaps exposed. to see her live would have been wonderful as so much gets lost in film - there is often something about a performance in the theatre that goes missing in film.
J'ai eu la chance de la voir deux fois dans le Lac. La beauté des bras de Galina est indicible.
Браво Галина Мезенцева! Хочу отметить, как хорошо и синхронно танцует кордебалет.
The most sublime and devine rendition of Odette in my eyes. But the first one has more genuine feel and for me the best pas d'action ever for me. In 86, she recovered from severe achiless injury and iskander told us the theater was frozen while they were shooting and Mez suffered a lot. Vinogradov rode too hard of Mez those days, but who else can be replaced?
She's my ultimate ballerina!
hi Bnesque
i was more moved by the first - at first i thought that when i watched the second the emotions to the chore might have slightly fatigued - but when i watched them again today - second then first - i realised my initial responses were true.
yes, a great great ballerina!
John Hall And I have to tell while she was super in these dramatic roles, she was very very special in the role like Aurora. She's very different from the other primas. When you see her dancing Aurora, strangely you come to feel you touch something dreamy, idealistic and devine. You actually feel the way those scores came into the soul of Tchaikovsky.
She was a miracle. It's really sad that we lost the track of her.
Bnesque and a pity there is not a full 'Sleeping Beauty' with her as Aurora?
i recall an old balletomane telling me about a quality that Svetlana Beriosova had as Aurora - a kind of 'classical grandure and largesse' that i sense in Galina Mezentseva's performance in this role, particularly in:
My 4 All Time Favorite Ballerinas in Sleeping Beauty - My Mother's 85th Birthday
and again there is something of the particular intensity with which she inhabits this role that makes it very personal, apart from the dance and interpretational qualities.
John Hall Luckily I saw it in full length. It really has grandeur as you say. and I have to add that Neff is partnering. so you can enjoy the DREAMY ATMOSPHERE at its best. and there was my best Florine, Yelana Pnkova, the best Lilac of the era, Lyubov Kunakova. Sitnikova, Chityakova showed their huge professionalism. and there were lot of mimes as you can't imagine. Many deleted scenes by today's shortening were there. Must see for every balletomane.
Bnesque
sounds one of the the ideal castings! and so see the now deleted scenes would have made this even better.
Чудо из чудес--- Мезенцева...в 1970 так, как она Н и к то не танцевал, и в 1986...какие Плисецкие ...при всем уважении к последней...факты---вещь упрямая
Плисецкая станцевала последнее ЛО в 1977 году. Вы о чем? Зачем вы хвалите одних артистов, пренебрежительно отзываясь о других? Мезенцева родилась в 1952 году, когда Плисецкая уже была состоявшейся балериной.
Sublime!
hi Pearlaceous
i was riveted by the performances - almost held my breath at times!
And Zaklinsky is fabulous too.
Thank you for this .. Zaklinsky IS fabulous!!
She is absolutely splendid. What a beautiful video. I think she is unique and exquisite, very beautiful and of a certain elegance and precision in her dancing with absolutely incredible phrasing- syncopated and complex and pristine. Her use of arms extending like a fluttering yet still swan is wonderful. The choreography seems a little different or maybe it's her exceptionalness that makes it so...
l was so lucky having seen her live in more occasions and imo she remains the true kirov essence she was absolutely uncomparable and her umbelivle arms are unmatchable .
yes, wonderfully controlled movement - to be able to express what she wishes rather than technique. she seems i another world - accessible to us, but not of our world. yes i wondered about the chore too - maybe for me it's not being as familiar with Russian 'Swan Lake's as with those in the UK, Europe and the USA
what a treasure!
hi kikcta - i'm a late convertee - actually Mezentseva had not really been on my radar but more recently i'm focussed on her and been totally bowled over - in so many ways.
For me, this is an absolutely perfect interpretation, something of a miracle in fact. Thank you for posting the two side by side, too.
hi oldoperafan
i was totally mesmerised by these performances - by their extraordinary focussed expressive intensity. i had to cut more off the beginning of each unfortunately to get under the 15 minute limit. 'an absolutely perfect interpretation' - exactly.
i thought side-by-side might be interesting in terms of seeing how Mezentseva developed in the role over the 14 year gap. glad you liked the idea too.
The second performance is, in my view, the more appealing .. She is less the cygnet and more the swan .. Is the music slower In the second? Also Siegfried is different .. Smoother in the second, less young, less raw .. They are obviously more mature .. But if you look at Mathieu Ganio ( or me for that matter lol) maturity is not necessarily an attribute of age. Her performance cured like a fine wine, got deeper, richer, more color! I am a recent convert to Mezentseva .. An seeking (with help) her Giselle .. Her SL is on YT with Zaklinsky ..
judith booth devine mezentseva incomparable kirov swan my forever favourite ballerina.
judith booth hi Judith. yes, the tempo in the second is a little slower - and 7 minutes something to nine minutes something i noted at one watching for the same chore.
and yes, as a ballerina often develops in her career - if she is a great one - she usually finds more in each role, a greater depth of meaning to express, sometimes she finds nuances that were originally broad brush strokes.
pediatrapaola she is fast becoming mine too - i'm finding it hard to let go of old favourites but am inexorably doing so!
devine mezentsev true kirov swan forever .absulutely nr 1.
absolutely - i couldn't take my eyes off her over the two performances - it's the intensity of commitment to the chore and its meanings that really strikes you.
Galina ❤️
Lucky all who saw her on stage. Unfortunately I am not one of them.
I believe at some point between these two performances she incurred the terrible injury of snapping her Achilles' heel which some said affected her even after she recovered. Yet she gave performances better than anyone else's of all times.
YES SHE HAD TERRIBLE INJURY between the two perfs
hi oldoperafan
yes, a snapped Achilles' heel can often mean the end of a career, or a lesser one.
John Hall I read on YT, I think, that this was due to being forced to rehearse too much by the then management, and all for some contemporary production that was not worthy of her anyway. I wonder if this was one of the reasons she left abruptly as soon as the country opened the borders.
oldoperafan she was was rearshing a work of vinogradov that l saw live THE KNIGHT WITH THE TIGER SKIN "that l didn't like at all.
She had a Achilles' TENDON rupture .. As with other dancers ( Herve Moreau had, I believe an ACL tear) .. This is an injury that takes a long recovery and then must be babied after .. Resulting in long term pain .. Dancers are a brave and tenacious lot!!
When Galina was young,she was a young genious,when she was older,she was a mature genious. It's a pity that they filmed her after her injury,but better than nothing anyway. And I prefer her with Mr Zaklinski who suits her better than anyone else. I saw them both in reality,and I can say that I have never seen a more tragic dancer than her,she was unique,overwhelming.
hi Juliet0307
i agree - a unique dancer - even on film she is spell-bindingly powerful.
and yes it seems to me she works best with Zaklinski.
it's always a question when a dancer is injured or declines a little with age whether to film them - but i am with you - probably better film than not.
Yes obviously even Mzentseva can get better! This is why I'm dying to see Yulia in ten years or so. Really I can't wait. I hope I'll be around.
yulia is very very good ,but mez is devine ,sorry but comparation impossible.
hi Sima
now there's a very nice thought (Anglo understatement again - can't help myself!!) - something to look forward to!
Tpediatrapaola No question how divine Mezentseva is but it's no fair to compare a ballerina at the height of her power with a brilliant young one who's been kept down for so long. We are yet to see what yulia can do. And anyway we've got to have something to look forward to, no? ;)
Sima Raft yulia (idiot fateyev permitting)will do magnificent carrer ,but mez is unarrivable.
I actually like the first performance better. I like the faster tempo, it doesn't seem to drag out as much. Also she looks more alive or fresh in the first one.
Ok .. I have a question and this seems a good place to ask it .. BNSQUE used PRIMA to describe Mezentseva .. I am not disputing this .. But I would like to know what the criteria are for this accolade? I have heard it used for Eva Evdokimova .. Carla Fracci .. I have read that a Prima does not appear with another Prima . That a Prima dances both classic and modern roles .. That all companies recognize the Prima .. That she is a star in all companies .. Yet Allesandra Ferri is not called Prima nor is Sylvie ( is anyone else called and known y just a first name?) .. Is it a passé term? How do you define it?
Google? :-) Here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prima_ballerinas
oldoperafan And en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prima_ballerina_assoluta
Thanks for this .. But the criteria are fuzzy .. Which makes the title pretty well meaningless .. And some of those on the list .. Are " iffy" to put it mildly .. Makes for much confusion on my part!.
judith booth Imo nowadays it has more an emotional meaning. We have it in Germany, too, but it's not a grade, it's a compliment full of admiration. Not sure however, whether it's still a grade in Italy.
I like this .. An accolade .. This makes sense to me .. Thanks ..
The earlier Mezentseva was nothing like the Mezentseva I saw live in Los Angeles in 1986. Truthfully, I found her almost unwatchable. By then, she’d become extremely mannered in her dancing, with her jutting head, her gummy legato, her very spotty technique and her oddly shaped feet which seemed to point only from the metatarsals down. She was also cadaverously thin. Other Odettes were far more pleasing to watch, and I saw them all - the warm and sisterly Olga Chenchikova and the powerful but very feminine Lyubov Kunakova. Both these ballerinas far outshone Mezentseva in their Odettes, and they danced their Odiles with overwhelming technical authority. But the unquestioned star of that week of Kirov Ballet Swan Lake performances in Los Angeles was the extremely charismatic and very beautiful Altynai Asylmuratova.
Aves Raggiana hi - yes, there can be a tendency in performers in dance and singing to go beyond where they are true to something mannered and exaggerated - sad to see in Mezentseva
her wraith-like thinness was certainly disconcerting, especially in the context of the near anorexia in dance beginning with Balanchine.
i must go and take a look at Olga Chenchikova and Lyubov Kunakova again - thanks for reminding me of these two Odettes!
Lovely technique but stilted, mannered, and emotionally cold-and dead hands.
yes, i think this is partly my reaction too.
Where is the softness, gentleness, and roundness of movement. There is no gentle lyricism her and certainly no musicality of phrasing. Technically strong but this rendition leaves me cold .