Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The other reviewer is right - this is not a really great technical recording. Typical 1970's Deutsche Grammophon 24 track sea of mud. But, if you listen past the recording, this is the most expressive, best paced, Swan Lake available. I have heard and own many different versions on CD and LP. Indeed, when I bought my first CD player in 1985 (when the first affordable ones became available) I began a personal 12 year search for the Ozawa / BSO version of Swan Lake. This was simply beacuse I loved my three-LP copy of it so much. When DG finally released it in 1997 I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it sitting in the bins. If you want to hear the prettiest version of Swan Lake available, buy this disk.

Swan Lake is one of the best works from Tchaikovsky. Frankly, this piece deserves more grandeur than what the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives it. The sound quality muffles the entire brass section, especially the low brass (even though the Boston Symphony low brass section is nothing to brag about anyway). You can tell what Ozawa is trying to do with this piece, but it does not work out as an outstanding performance. However, the string section is superb! It is an overall decent performance, but the recording quality almost makes a joke out of this magnificent work.

If you stumble upon the original DG CD issue (415367-2), it will be slightly edited. About four minutes of repeated and previously herad bars will be absent. Back in the 1980's when first issued on CD, the technologhy was just not there to present the performance entirely complete on 2 CD's, as heard on its original 3 LP issue (DG 2709 099). This re-issue (DG 453055-2) has restored all the missing bars. This remains the most exciting complete "Swan Lake" out there. The only complete "Swan Lakes" which are more exciting than this, are the live Ozawa/Boston performances, dating just a week or two before this recording was made by DG; and those live performances are locked in The Boston Symphony Orchestra archives!!

Update: I just noticed (quite some time later) that the pamphlet which comes with this re-issued 453055-2 edition did not get an exactly perfect revision. The restored bars are all on CD # 2, tracks 7, 19, and 20 respectively. The longer playing timings have been updated, but DG missed a couple of details on the text portion. Each number of the score is described in detail, track by track. In the original 415367-2 CD booklet, it is notated in small print after tracks 7, 19, 20 on CD # 2, "abridged." In the 453055-2 booklet, it still says "abridged" in the same areas of the text, although they are now thoroughly complete and restored. Most likely someone didn't proof read thoroughly.

Leading conductors and orchestras seldom perform ballet music in concert with ballet companies. They play the music strictly for listening audiences, and in this work Ozawa is no exception. He and the Boston Symphony Orchestra do an expectedly fine job of this Swan Lake but it could never be used to accompany live dancers. The work, written as it was for ballet would require the close collaboration of conductor and choreographer/artistic director. Many 'Barons of the Baton' would not be comfortable with this, perhaps perceiving themselves as leading an overgrown pit orchestra. It's a long, tough work to dance and some of Ozawa's up-tempo interpretations could cause severe distress, perhaps with more than one dying swan.

I just got this recording. Unfortunately I don't have another version of SL to compare to it, and I've only ever heard the complete score twice before in my life on radio and television, and up until now I've only had fragments of the ballet score in various "suites" available on several LP's (in which some cases moments like the A Major Waltz from Act One and the Act 4 Finale are edited in various degrees), but for the price I paid on this collection, it was a steal! A powerful performance from Ozawa and the Boston Symphony, and I don't understand why people criticize the sound quality--It's a 1978 analog recording transferred to digital, and it's not at all "muddy" or weak like everybody says. I think its clarity and power rivals even certain digital recordings (in general, perhaps not necessarily ones of SL). It's such a lively piece of music (which is typical of Tchaikovsky anyway!), you don't even need to see the ballet--The music tells you the story. My only bone of contention is that on this recording the "arrival of guests" scene in Act 3 and the En'tracte and opening scene of Act 4 are abridged--Why this was done and whether it appeared this way on the original release of the Ozawa recording I don't know, but because the first CD is 71 mins. and the 2nd one is 78, I cringe knowing they could have shifted the White Swan dance over to disc one and made room for the edited music on disc two. But this is spilt milk--It's a great recording of a masterpiece. Even though it's become sort of a cliche because of its standard status as a dance piece, it never loses its visceral power.

In agreement with another reviewer, this is the most expressive Swan Lake
i've ever listened. Not just a very expressive performance, but really plenty
of nobility and charm. Everything is perfectly placed, every dances and
intermezzi are brilliantly played and maestro Ozawa know how to explode all
the symphonic expression from the score, bringing us sometimes an incidental
music atmosphere. Perhaps the "too symphonic" way in this ballet can create some
problems to dancers, but in agreement with Mr. Hurwitz, this challenge makes this
music even more interesting and exciting today. Perhaps you could get a more
"balletistic" alternative in also wonderful Rozhdestvensky`s version but Ozawa
and the Boston Symphony are unmatchable in brilliant sound and playing. This is
another essential for every Tchaikovsky collection.

Perfect all around! This score is nicely done, all the music is there, and the musicianship is TOP notch. The violin player, especially, is VERY good. The violin parts that are meant to dazzle REALLY come off that way.
The quality of recording is really good too, albeit possibly too quiet.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a complete score of Swan Lake, possibly Tchaikovsky's best work.

This is an excellent recording. However, the Black Swan pas de deux is not in the where most companies place it. It seems buried in the middle, when it is usually the culmination of the third act. However, this is easily correctible in rehearsal and performance, and everything else is stunningly beautiful.

...then you MUST make a point of listening to this recording. Silverstein's performances of the black/white swans and the Danse Russe are simply spectacular. If anyone needed a reminder as to why he's possibly the greatest concertmaster in recording history (and high on the list of violinists, as well), here it is.

After listening to it again last night, I've come to the conclusion that maybe the mix is what everybody finds dissatisfactory. I think it probably could be a little stronger myself. But I still think the power of the orchestra comes through just great. And, OK, I misspelled "Entr'acte"! :) I did catch after the fact that I just displaced the apostrophe, in case wiseguys point it out.