Manon

Kenneth MacMillan’s 1974 ballet recounts the story of Manon Lescaut, the tragic heroine of Antoine François Prėvost’s titular 1731 novel (also the basis for Jules Massenet’s 1884 opera, as well as an earlier one by Auber, and Puccini’s later version). Manon is a naïve young girl being brought to a convent school by her avaricious brother Lescaut, but she entrances both the scholarly Chevalier Des Grieux and a wealthy old man, and those obsessions change her life, leading to disaster for herself, her brother, and Des Grieux. MacMillan choreographed the tale to music by Massenet, but avoided choosing any from the composer’s opera, instead cobbling together the score from his many other works, winning instant success for the Royal Ballet, where it has been part of the repertory ever since. This 2018 Covent Garden revival is authoritatively conducted by Martin Yates, who re-orchestrated the score in 2011 and also led the 2015 production from Paris (VL-1/17) that marked star ballerina Aurélie Dupont’s retirement from the Paris Opera Ballet. And the sets and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis remain ravishing. But most impressive is the team of Sarah Lamb and Vadim Muntagirov, splendid as Manon and Des Grieux, who express the characters’ youthful passions better than the more established stars of earlier versions. The dancing of the secondary figures and the corps de ballet is also excellent, with Ryoichi Hirano especially fine as Lescaut. Presented in DTS 5.1 (DTS-HD 5.1 on the Blu-ray release) and LPCM stereo, extras include an introduction to the ballet, a featurette on the dancers playing the courtesans, and an interview with MacMillan’s widow Deborah by Darcey Bussell. Equal to any of the other versions of MacMillan’s ballet on disc and superior to most, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)