Chopin: Les Sylphides - Delibes: Coppelia

CHOPIN Les Sylphides. 1 DÉLIBES Coppélia. 2 ADAM Giselle: act 2 pas de deux 3 • 1 Julia Farron, 1,2 Nadia Nerina, 1 Philip Chatfield, 2 Donald Britton, 2 Robert Helpmann, 3 Margot Fonteyn, 3 Rudolf Nureyev, dancers; 1 Robert Irving, cond; 2 John Lanchberry, cond; 3 Marcus Dods, cond; 1 Philharmonia O. 2 London SO. 3 Pro Arte O • ICA CLASSICS 5058, mono (DVD: 99:46) Here are three productions—well, actually two and a quarter—performed by stars of the Royal Ballet in the BBC studios between 1956 ( Les Sylphides ) and 1962 (the Giselle pas de deux), but the quality of both the productions and the dancing are quite variable. Due to its rough condition—grainy picture, too dark lighting, and muffled, distorted sound—the Sylphides has fared the worst. Moreover, and this may have been exacerbated by the lighting, the costumes worn by the ballerinas are too full in both the skirting and the bust (there’s too much tulle in the former), which makes them look