Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie Review

'Splash,' the ballet? Well, kind of.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 9, 2010

"This is the story of Palemon and Ondine, telling how Palemon wedded a water-nymph and what chanced therefrom and how Palemon died and how Ondine returned to her element beneath the Mediterranean Sea."

Ballet lovers will probably want to string me up for saying this, but Frederick Ashton was the master of pastiche. He loved cobbling together classical tropes for his choreography, and he did some of his best work to patently stitched together scores by the marvelous John Lanchbery. It’s perhaps telling, then, that Ashton himself was never quite satisfied with Ondine, his one and only ballet set to an original score created expressly for a newly created dance piece, rather than a reworking of a hoary classic. Ondine premiered in 1958 at Ashton’s longtime home, The Royal Ballet, with the redoubtable Margot Fonteyn in the title role. Reviews weren’t entirely positive, and Ashton tended to blame his composer collaborator, Hans Werner Henze. Ondine was adapted from a 19th century novella entitled Undine (and in fact Henze’s score retained the original title, somewhat oddly, despite being “attached” to the ballet which spelled it differently), which retold the mythological adventures of a water nymph (or sprite) who falls in love with a knight, in a sort of reverse Little Mermaid or (to use popular vernacular) Splash scenario. Though Ondine has never really surfaced (sorry) to the front rank of literary adaptations in ballet or classical music, it’s somewhat alarming to realize the basic story has been tackled by everyone from Tchaikovsky to Andy Warhol (and, no, I’m not kidding). This particular Ondine actually comes off as a more bracing entertainment now from the vantage point of some 50 years beyond its rocky premiere. While there are some clunky moments, both from a dance and musical perspective, this is one of the most attractive, sumptuous and emotionally involving pieces in the Ashton oeuvre, and Henze’s very idiosyncratic score has weathered the test of time and emerges as one of the most sadly underappreciated ballet scores of the 20th century.

Edward Watson is Palemon

Ashton may in fact have had no one to blame but himself for his purported failings with Ondine. The choreographer was a brilliantly collaborative spirit, and he worked closely both with Henze and designer Lila de Nobili to craft an evocatively cohesive production which ably recreated a watery world of sprites, as well as the harder edged mortal world in which Ondine struggled for a while to survive. Henze, who had been living in Italy when he accepted the commission from Ashton (after Ashton’s first choice, William Walton, declined and recommended his young friend Henze), actually moved to London to do the actual composing, working during the day and then playing segments for Ashton each evening, which they would then discuss, often sending Henze back to the compositional drawing board. Ashton himself reworked his original conception for at least parts of the ballet, removing a “reveal” in Act Three which would have shown various Commedia dell’Arte specialty dancers to actually be naiads and tritons. What emerged in the final version, however, was a rather standard “star-crossed” (or if I may be permitted, “coral-crossed”) love affair between two disparate characters, coming to an expectedly tragic conclusion. What wasn’t standard about Ondine was the water laden setting and the ingenious contributions of Ashton and Henze to make the audience feel literally submerged in an alien world.

Henze’s music is a minor revelation in Ondine, a bracingly modern sounding piece (especially for an Ashton ballet) that sounds like Ravel filtered through the twin consciousnesses of Stravinsky and Roger Sessions. Bizarre discordant reeds and winds (especially redolent of Sessions) suddenly dissolve into gorgeously melodic strains that manage to perfectly evoke water while eschewing what have become the cliché ridden shimmering sounds of La Mer. Henze’s score certainly does shimmer, with some incredibly delicate harp effects (used especially brilliantly to introduce Ondine early in Act One), as well as “blockier” heraldic brass sequences that typically help to underscore Palemon’s dances. The score in fact is a study in disparity, with a very mid-20th century feel swimming (sorry—again) with the more grandiose melodic elements which hearken rather strongly back to the sound world of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe.

Ashton’s work here is similarly bifurcated, with elements of typical corps work mixed with some fairly innovative rethinking of port de bras and (rather ironically, considering the ballet’s “fishy” setting) the poisson position. Ashton gives Ondine a wonderfully diverse set of movements, with fluttery footwork combined with lovely rippling hand and arm motions which perfectly evoke an underwater setting. It’s probably more than a bit daunting to literally follow in Margot Fonteyn’s footsteps, but Miyako Yoshida makes a stunningly lithe Ondine, vulnerable yet strong and inerrantly graceful. Edward Watson’s Palemon is athletic and decidedly more angular, as befits the role. The corps work here is also dashing and effective, with a number of standout moments, especially in the Act Two scene on board a ship. This Royal Ballet production wisely utilizes de Nobili’s original designs, which are gorgeously rendered and very, very colorful.

As with many of Ashton’s pieces, there’s just the ever so slight musty smell to the proceedings at times, but that frankly is what may appeal to a lot of classical ballet lovers to begin with. The fact is Ondine is a decidedly more modern piece, intentionally so, than most, perhaps all, of Ashton’s other works. Ashton himself may not have been particularly pleased with the final product, but this production of Ondine proves that sometimes creators can be too close to their creation to objectively see its merits. This is a strangely undervalued piece in both the ballet and music worlds, and hopefully this largely successful mounting will help to ameliorate that problem.

Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ondine is one of the most gorgeously designed ballets in The Royal Ballet's repertoire, and this wonderful Opus Arte Blu-ray makes the most of that with a mostly excellent AVC encoded 1080i "live" image in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The best part of this Blu-ray is the really stunning palette, which offers some beautiful teals, aquamarines, blues and greens in some really amazingly gradated shades. Detail in the costumes is also exceptional, with Ondine's flowing robes wonderfully presented. Ondine is presented both in costume and lighting is shades of green and they are all offered here in completely natural looking detail. The only major complaint I have is with the blacks, which are slightly crushed in a number of scenes, leading Palemon's black waistcoat to completely disappear into the dark backdrop. Otherwise, this is a really gorgeous looking ballet that is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the ears.

Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Henze is certainly not a household name throughout even much of the classical music world, but this Blu-ray offers a spectacular account of his gorgeous and challenging Ondine score via two lossless audio mixes, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and an LPCM 2.0. This is bold and provocative music, alternately delicate and brash, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (which I spent almost all of my time listening to) offers perfect clarity and separation while giving just enough ambient hall space in its surround mix to let the interior lines of Henze's score really breathe. The dynamic range of this recording is really quite remarkable, handling everything from quiet harp glissandi to forceful blasts of tutti brass with equal aplomb. The impressionistic string effects are also particularly clear and precise. I did do a spot check of the 2.0 fold down and found it quite inviting on its own terms. The orchestra is understandably more massed in this version, but there's still a surprising amount of ambient hall reverb, making the LPCM track sound very spacious for a stereo mix.

Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A really interesting, if somewhat brief, interview with Henze called The Making of Ondine (HD 1080i; 11:20) is offered on the disc, with Henze's thickly accented (with subtitles--which you'll probably need) account of meeting Ashton and forging this rare original ballet. The insert booklet has an essay giving some historical background on the piece, as well as the ballet's synopsis.

Ondine: Royal Ballet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ondine is probably one of the lesser known of Frederick Ashton's iconic pieces, despite an unusual setting, remarkably innovative choreography, and a really arresting score by Henze. This Blu-ray offers a sterling presentation of the ballet, which is only very minimally hampered by some minor image quality issues. If you're an Ashton fan, this is a must-have, but for even casual lovers of the ballet or of 20th century orchestral music, Ondine is well worth the time and comes highly recommended.