Description

Deutsche Grammophon: Richard Strauss — Josephs Legende, A Ballet by John Neumeier (DVD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

Product Type: DVD (Video)
Brand / Label: Deutsche Grammophon / Unitel Classica
Catalog Number: 00440 073 4315
UPC: 044007343159
Composer: Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Work: Josephs Legende (The Legend of Joseph), Op. 63
Choreographer / Director: John Neumeier
Conductor: Heinrich Hollreiser
Orchestra: Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic)
Genre: Ballet / Classical
Language: Menu in English (danced work, no dialogue)

Product Features

Format: DVD
Region Code: 0 (worldwide / all regions)
Picture: NTSC, Colour, 4:3
Sound: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Surround
Total time: approx. 65 minutes
Production: A Unitel production, Munich, 1977; DVD release 2007
Condition: Factory sealed (brand new)

Overview

Richard Strauss wrote Josephs Legende for Nijinsky and Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1914 — a lush, opulent score on the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. This DVD captures John Neumeier's celebrated Vienna staging, danced by members of the Vienna State Opera Ballet with the Vienna Philharmonic in the pit under Heinrich Hollreiser.

The casting is the draw. Judith Jamison — the towering Alvin Ailey star — dances Potiphar's Wife opposite Hamburg Ballet's Kevin Haigen as Joseph, with Karl Musil as the Angel and Franz Wilhelm as Potiphar. The press at the time singled out the pairing: Die Welt called the production a triumph and described Haigen rising to become Jamison's artistic equal.

The libretto, after Harry Graf Kessler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, frames the story as a charged encounter between innocence and desire. Ernst Fuchs — the Viennese fantastic-realist painter — designed the sets and costumes, giving the staging its distinctive jewel-toned, visionary look. This was its first release on DVD, presented in 5.1 surround.

Interesting Facts

Strauss composed Josephs Legende for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with the lead originally created for Vaslav Nijinsky — though Léonide Massine ultimately danced the 1914 Paris premiere.
Judith Jamison, who dances Potiphar's Wife here, was the legendary muse of Alvin Ailey and later artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The sets and costumes are by Ernst Fuchs, a founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism — a rare crossover between fine-art painting and ballet design.
The score is among Strauss's most lavish, written for a huge orchestra in the same period as his operas Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier.
The libretto was co-written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Strauss's great operatic collaborator, together with diplomat and patron Harry Graf Kessler.
This all-region NTSC disc was filmed by Unitel in 1977 and issued by Deutsche Grammophon in 2007 — its first appearance on DVD.