Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky, Petipa - Swan Lake / Kirov Ballet, Yulia Makhalina, Igor Zelensky

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A glorious 'Swan Lake'.

This is a movie version of Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' filmed in 1990. The performance is done by the Kirov Ballet and stars Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky.

There are many positives regarding this DVD and only one minor negative...let me explain.

The good:

1.)This is one of the most beautiful renditions of this ballet I've ever been privileged to witness. Makhalina is a vision of loveliness and her skills, designating her as a prima ballerina are not hard to spot. Her spins and balance are flawless and her sense of timing with her partners is perfection itself.

2.)Prince Siegfried is danced by Igor Zelensky (a dancer unknown to me prior to this performance). I felt his emotional response to his role was a little flat, BUT his spins and leaps (especially in his solo in Act II) were breath taking. The height and hang-time of his leaps were reminiscent of Baryshnikov in his prime; his leaping spins were exquisitely performed and fully completed.

3.)The costumes and sets; simply sumptuous...enough said.

4.)Camera work and position of shooting angles was, with a couple of exceptions, well done and resulted in visual pleasing presentation on this DVD.

The Negative: (singular)

Whether you like a recorded performance with or without a live audience is, of course, a personal preference. However, I felt this work sorely missed the spontaneous response that is only obtained with a live audience. Within this DVD you'll be witness to some of the most incredible skills in the form of a pas de deux or solo dance(s); but then, the music would end, the dancer(s) would hold their finishing poses and...nothing...just dead, disquieting silence. The camera then faded to black and the next scene started.

It's hard to express in the written word how much the applause and the shouted 'bravos' add to a performance such as this. To me, the lack of audience response slightly diminished the overall effect of this otherwise magnificent ballet; I really felt that the performance was incomplete...something was missing. One can only wonder how it could not have affected the dancers themselves; hard to believe they'd not have 'given' more before a live audience.

Conclusion:
One of the finest productions of 'Swan Lake' I've seen, featuring two of the world's best dancers in their prime. It's unfortunate it wasn't recorded in front of a live audience; one can only speculate about an even better performance than in this movie version.
5 Stars for the music, dancers, sets and costumes. 2 1/2 stars for the movie format.

This version of Swan Lake is definitely one of the best ones I've ever seen - and I've seen a lot! Yulia Makhalina is a fantastic technical dancer (if that's what you are looking for) and her extensions are unbelievable. The Corps de Ballet does what Kirov Corp de Ballet has always done best - dance in fantastic unison. The sets are beautiful as are the costumes. If you want to see a truly moving version of this ballet, this is the one to watch.

I do not know much about ballet and started enjoying recently. I saw Swan Lake by ABT and NYBT live but this was the best. I enjoyed it so much and watched it over and over thanks to Yulia Makhalina's excellent performance.

Although I enjoyed ABT and NYBT's performance, it was the first time that I felt like watching a real Swan in this Kirov's Swan Lake and could feel sadness and beauty of Odette. Makhalina performs Odette so beautifully and sadly and performs Odile so sexy and confidently at the same time. For odile part, I liked how she expresses in her eye before doing spins. I loved how Odette appears and dances in the lake for the first time. I also liked the part where Siegfried looks for Odette to ask for forgiveness. I don't know why nobody mentioned about this Swan Lake DVD. Please try it!!! You will really enjoy it.

This is one of my favorite Swan Lakes. Yulia Makhalina is one of the most beautiful ballerinas I have ever seen. She is also as technically accomplished as any ballerina I've seen. Now, I do not know anything at all about the techniques of ballet, but I do know beauty when I see it. Partnered with Yulia is Igor Zelensky, a very strong and magnetic male dancer. In the first act, one of the female friends dancing with the Prince is Larissa Lezhnina who stars as Aurora in the Kirov version of Sleeping beauty with Yulia Makhalina as The Lilac Fairy. Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty / Kirov Ballet Larissa also stars in a Kirov version of The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

This ballet is performed from the stage of the Kirov Theater in St. Petersburg, (once Leningrad). The opulence in that building is spectacular, and you can see part of it on the video "Bringing Balanchine Back" by the NYCB.......New York City Ballet: Bringing Balanchine Back....... The theater had no audience and there was no sign of a live orchestra, although it had very good stereo sound. I doubt if it was a live orchestra because there was no sound of ballet shoes on the stage. Costuming and sets were spectacular. As usual for a Russian performance of Swan Lake it has the so called happy ending, but the Russians should wake up to the fact that the sad ending is better, which is how Petipa and Tchaikovsky designed it to end. The emotion is there in the music for the sacrificial ending, and after all that is a happy ending, for how could there be a more romantic ending than a love living forever in paradise?

Typical of Russian ballets, there is very little if any mime used in this production. I like to see mime used in ballet. I believe it was the Russians who invented it, yet now they use it the least. It is a beautiful art form in itself. The arm and hand motions go very well with all the movements of dance. See the American Ballet Theatre for excellent examples of mime in Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / American Ballet Theatre, Murphy, Corella It was the ABT who showed in mime that the lake the swans inhabit was formed by their tears.

This ballet has a running time of 115 minutes which is about right for most Swan Lakes. Some of them run as much as 135 minutes, however. The video format is 4:3 ratio. If you are looking for a good version of Swan Lake, I believe you will like this one.

I've dreaded writing this review, as to do it justice I would have had to spend several hours writing down all the wondrous nuances of orchestration, choreography, dance by both principals and corps, as well as the superb videography to do it justice. To take the lazy man's way out, let me just summarize that in 60 years of viewing this ballet, both in person and in recordings, this is the most enjoyable and artistically perfect of any I have seen. In particular, not wishing to take away anything from my love for Maya Plisetskaya, I think Yulia Makhalina is far and away the best Odette/Odile of any I have viewed. This is the video I would show first to anyone who has not yet discovered the wonders of ballet.

I have it and the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in VHS, have loved Swan Lake since 1948. This is the best performance I have ever seen. Makhalina is amazing, astounding, inspiring, awesome as both Odette and Odile. I haven't seen anyone handle the arms so perfectly, apart from the poetry of the rest of her body. Zelensky matches an astounding physical performance to a great ballet interpretation of the music and the drama. The Corps de Ballet discipline and artistry are impressive; the Pas de Quatre in the second scene of the first act is my total favorite. Love the whole thing.

This is a great Swan Lake. Of the six or seven Odette/Odile(s) I have seen in various DVD productions, Yulia Makhalina is the best. To have this performance downrated to three-and-a-half stars because one reviewer gave it a one star review because s/he never received the DVD from the distributor is ridiculous. Everyone else (except one other) gave it five stars.

I was knocked out of the ring by this production! I've seen many versions, but this one comes first by a long way. Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky were amazing in their precision, energy, grace &c., &c., &c. Yuri Fateyev, however, as the jester was the special ingredient that made this an absolute masterpiece for me, instead of just a glorious success - he makes it worthy of 6 stars instead of 5. Eldar Aliyev as Rothbart was far and away the best I've seen. Most of all though, the Kirov Theatre Orchestra's performance was what won my heart and stirred my blood (7 stars instead of 6!!). Under Victor Fedotov the music had all the pathos the score demands, and more, but it also had extraordinary crispness and punch when the action needed it (tympani and trombones, especially, at their wondrous best in the climax to the second act). WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T MISS THIS. Although Zelensky might not at first seem handsome enough to be a credible Prince Siegfried, he grows on you, if you give him a chance. At least that's what happened to me.

I purchased this DVD and that featuring Maya Pleitskaya to compare and contrast and boy, I sure got my money's worth and then some with those! This version of Swan Lake has absolutely beautiful staging and production values, wonderful photography, lighting and sound, beautiful costumes and fine choreography. It has some narration in it for those not familiar with the story, which was very nice. The only thing I wished it had was an audience. The recording seems like a recording of a dress rehearsal, not a performance, and it's amazing how much one misses that. It has a dead quality. I don't mean to say that the dancers and everyone else didn't appear to be giving their all, because I believe they did, but one did miss an audience to energize their performance. Yulia Makhalina is a very beautiful woman and a wonderful dancer, no question about it, and makes a very pleasing Odette/Odille. Igor Zelensky dances wonderfully and I appreciated his strength and fluidity but definitely no chemistry between he and Yulia. That killed it a little bit but still, it's a very fine performance. I would especially recommend this for a neophyte to the ballet.

I have watched many VHS and DVDs of Swan Lake, this is my favorite version of Swan Lake. You will see Yulia Makhalina danced at her peak(22 years old) with superb technique and emotion. Corps de Ballet also is wonderful. Artistic design, lighting, camera, audio and video quality are all first rate. Highly recommend this DVD.