Herold: La fille mal gardee

HÉROLD-HAYDN-MARTINI-ROSSINI-DONIZETTI-HERTEL La fille mal gardée (arr. Lanchbery with additional music) • John Lanchbery, cond; Nadia Nerina, David Blair, Stanley Holden, Alexander Grant, Leslie Edwards (dancers); Royal Ballet Covent Garden O • ICA CLASSICS 5088, mono (90:37) This is not an actual performance of La fille mal gardée but a film version made for the BBC between September 7 and 9 of 1962. The images are sepia and white, and at times the old style TV cameras can scarcely keep up with the speed of the dancers’ feet, but one thing that shines through like a beacon in this, as in so many ballets under the direct supervision of Frederick Ashton, is its marvelous combination of characterization and humor. I’ve long felt that Ashton always wanted to present characters up there on stage, not just decorous dancers showing off their techniques, and he was capable of slipping some humor into even the most serious works. In this piece of fluff, he wa