Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake [Blu-ray]

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

 

 

To date this Blu-ray performance of Tchaikowsky's Swan Lake is the best I have seen! Rudolf Nureyev's professional direction is an art to behold. The dancers' choreography is balanced and symetrical as well as easily understandable. Also, if desired, infrequent English subtitles help clarify the story line. Absolutely enchanting!

I've been waiting for a blu-ray production of this ballet that is widescreen, superb picture and sound, that has wonderful performances, choreography and camera work. My wishes have been only partially realized with this performance.

On the plus side, Letestu is a plaintive, haunting, lyrical, captivating, Odette. Her Odile has a nice edge to it. Her dancing is superb. The camerawork and cutting is excellent giving depth and complexity to the performance that I enjoyed. Nureyev's extended choreography seems to have added variety and complexity to many of the corps scenes.

On the negative side, first, this is a minimalist production with mostly bare stage, little scenery, which stands in the way of my expectations for a mystical, ethereal experience. The most glaring fault, though, for me is the intrusive inclusion of the tutor/Rothbart character as a principal dancer, often competing with and interfering with the prince, making many of the dances pas de trois rather than deux. I understand that this was Nureyevs intent, his contribution and take on the ballet giving it his unique interpretation. This may work for some; it did not for me.

The lead dancers and the Corps de ballet of Paris Opera ballet produce a near perfect performance of this work to the accompanyment of Tchaikovsky's glorious music. The Nureyev interpretation sometimes invokes unusually slow tempos which can take some getting used to and his adapting of the storyline to give a slightly more male focus is interesting. I have loved this ballet and its music for over 50 years now and never tire of it. This production is a gem with excellent audio and video and clever filming which shows the company at its best. Thoroughly recommended.

And it IS 16x9 - the Lawrence review refers to the other Decca Marinsky blu ray whic is the old 4:3 format and should be moved. Technically this release is first rate.

John

I own just about every SWAN LAKE that has ever been released on home video. This is my current favorite.

It's not a traditional fairy-tale production. The sets are minimal, dark and suggestive. The story has been cunningly tweaked, merging the roles of Benno, the Tutor and Rothbart into a dark composite character (danced by a severe Karl Pacquette) who jealously seeks to control the Prince. Many interpretations are possible, enhancing the ambiguities of the score.

This is the most melancholy flock of white swans imaginable. As Odette, Agnes Letestu combines strong dancing with an almost unbearable sadness and desperation, transforming into an alluring and distinctly feminine Odile. José Martinez (the Prince) is also a superb dancer and partner, but seems emotionally distant and uninvolved until the very end. Perhaps this is intentional.

The ensemble dancing is uniformly excellent, and the character soloists are consistently delightful. The Dance of the Little Swans is a show-stopper.

The performance is given with Acts I-II combined. The "swan" theme usually played at the end of Act I is omitted, as it's very similar to the version that begins Act II.

The wide 16:9 picture is of demonstration quality, razor-sharp and highly detailed, doing full justice to the beautiful costumes and deeply saturated lighting effects. The camera work is mostly unobtrusive and favors wide views, making the few closeups even more effective. Blu-ray brutally reveals the sweat on the dancers. These people sure work hard.

The BEST part of this disc is the soundtrack. It is no exaggeration to say that it's worth buying even if you turn off the picture!

In addition to my video collection, I own about three dozen vinyl and CD recordings of SWAN LAKE. This performance/recording blows nearly all of them away. Except for Dorati '54 (which is monaural), I have never heard a better sense of musical proportion and orchestral balance applied to this repertoire. The dynamics and rubato have a "just right" feeling that makes me smile with satisfaction. Tempos are thoughtful, often slower than usual, bringing out details in the arrangement that are easy to miss. Nearly all repeats are observed. The 5.1 surround recording is vivid and transparent, with a front soundstage that is impressively wide and deep. Even without headphones, you can pinpoint every instrumental group in space. The solo violin is RIGHT THERE. Stage noise is minimal. Only the applause keeps this from being a perfect reference recording; but you can hardly blame the audience for its enthusiasm!

Speaking as a certified SWAN LAKE junkie, this disc earns the highest recommendation.

This ballet was made available in three different video formats; DVD, HD-DVD, and BluRay. My version was the HD-DVD version, but in all formats, the ballet is the same. First of all Nureyev is not dancing in this ballet. I think the Ad is somewhat deceiving. The principle dancers are Agnes Letestu and Jose Martinez. They are excellent dancers, and as you will see from the extreme close-ups of the principles, they both "sweat blood" in their efforts to entertain us.

The only reason I did not give this production a five star rating is because I did not like the ending. You may call me old-fashioned, but I want to see good triumph over evil, which does not happen in this story. Swan Lake is a story ballet, and is NOT just dancing to beautiful music. This is the second ballet in my considerable collection in which Nureyev came up with a terrible ending. In The Vienna State Opera Ballet..... Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake.....production with Dame Margot Fonteyn, he had Siegfried drown in the Lake of Tears as Odette swims away to remain a Swan-Maiden for all eternity. Plus, he had on more make-up than Margot Fonteyn. In this version, he has Rothbart flying off with the Swan-Maiden clutched in his talons as Siegfried writhes on the ground unable to help her. Again, she must remain a Swan-Maiden for all eternity. I HATE that, period.

NOTE: I must make a correction here, because I misunderstood an important aspect of the meaning of this version of SWAN LAKE. This entire ballet is a dream by Prince Siegfried from beginning to end. The poor Swan Maidens are NOT doomed, because they never existed except in Siegfried's dream. This was brought to my attention by Mr. Robert Campbell for which I am grateful.

This is an HD-DVD (also available in std def and Blu-Ray) and will NOT play on anything but an HD-DVD player. It has excellent resolution in HD. I wonder though, why the video producer thought we needed 12 to 14 close-ups of the ballerinas hands, and their feet? Letestu and her partner are wonderful dancers, though, I thought she lacked the sad expression Odette needs as the trapped Swan-Maiden. I thought at times her expression was rather bored. She was very good as Odile, and Siegfried warmed up to her portrayal of "Odette in disguise" gradually, and did not act like he knew her when she first appeared. Letestu gives a good account of herself in her mime role, both in the second and fourth acts. Color and lighting are well done in all four acts and the excellent music is stereo and surround. The running time to end of curtain calls is 140 minutes, and the screen format is 16:9

The dark psychology thing of Rothbart being in all four acts hovering on every move of Siegfried was way overdone, in my opinion. Why do people think they need to psychoanalyze Tchaikovsky's mind forever? I think that is what Nureyev is trying to do here, using the freakish spectre of Rothbart haunting Siegfried's every thought.

The corps members of the POB were superb, but messed up by an overzealous button pushing production manager. Why have a beautiful weaving line of ballerinas and then ruin the effect by shooting close-ups of them? That sort of thing was done all through this ballet. It's good that the theater patrons did not have to see all of the close-ups. The button pushers think they are being artistic, but they know nothing about the art of the ballet. The artistic director of the ballet company should put a stop to their enthusiasm. I spent thirteen years in a TV studio, so I know a little of what I speak.

I love the music to this ballet and have many vinyl versions of this. After watching the video I kept trying to put my finger on what is wrong here. The role of the tutor is intrusive and not as well performed as I would have liked. The sets are minimal. The orchestration is long and at times boring. The video quality is high and the camera work is excellent. The sound quality is good but not great. Dynamics are somewhat compressed. Still this is one of the core classical ballets and worth watching but maybe not owning.

This is a main stream performance. Both sound and picture in this blu ray disc are very good. The group dancing is very enjoyable creating wonderful shapes. Regarding individual performances, there are better productions. Letitsu herself although a very skillful dancer, casts a very sad and unenjoyable mood. This production is the complete oposite of the Zurich production with Semionova where the production is not the standard one, the dances are different, the group dance are less enjoyable but the individual dances (and not only semionova) are much more interesting.

This is really a Rudolf made Swan Lake. Maybe it could be considered as a good performance in 1960s, but a different story after 2000. The leader dancers are less of skills, comparing to the Russian Dancers. Anyway, the video image is awesome and the group dancing is very good. Personally, I would recommend the Uliana Lopatkina release.

You are in for a real treat if you have blue ray, a good sound system and love ballet. I must have enjoyed this blue ray more than a dozen times and I still enjoy the beautiful clear picture, great music and great dances. Go and get this, there are not too many ballet recordings with such high overall quality (IMHO). Get it!

at the prices asked, both of these swan lake productions need to be in the latest 16x9 format with the best possible presentation of the sound