Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op.20

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It seems that no matter what work or composer Charles Dutoit conducts, the result always yields a solid performance by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. This Swan Lake, in particular, is an audiophile's delight: superb orchestral hall acoustics, and wonderful playing by the orchestra that is both thoughtful and soulful. You just might find a tear coming to your eye as the final notes bring down the curtain of this extraordinary performance of what is, arguably, the world's most famous ballet.

This is a performance best appreciated by people who are primarily fans of Tchaikovsky's symphonic output. Ballet aficionados and budding dancers are better served by one of the rival versions.

It is not that Dutoit's intepretation lacks any genuine feeling for dance --- indeed he and the Montreal orchestra offer dazzling accounts of the big dance numbers. However, compared to Previn's LSO version, for example, which, from the first bar to the last positively sways with the spirit of dance, Dutoit seems to have invisibly divided his intepretation into a chain-series of slow "interludes" and fast dance numbers. Using broad tempi to play up the atmospheric beauty of the former and brisk ones for the latter, many interesting musical contrasts are achieved. (Just listen to the lead-ups to the Goblet Dance.) You could say that while eminently danceable versions like Previn's and Ozawa's operate in one smooth gear throughout, you can hear Dutoit constantly changing gears!

Hence, Dutoit's Swan Lake really plays like one of Tchaikovsky's orchestral tone poems, more so than being a thoroughly balletic reading. Dramatically and musically it remains just as effective. However, I can imagine the frustrations felt by budding dancers trying to practice to this recording. It is possible to become schizo-ic, attempting to traverse Dutoit's wide range of tempi.

A beautifully atmospheric performance of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece nonetheless, and certainly the recording with the best sound. A Swan Lake for arm-chair listeners!

Dutoit has a good feeling for ballet and the Montreal orchestra give sparkle and color to this fine music. The recording is up to the high standard Decca gave Montreal. The score remains virtually complete, unlike most other versions of Swan Lake. It is amazing how often this work has been recorded, both as a "suite" and as a whole, and yet it sounds so new and fresh in Dutoit's hands - a great compliment.

Although others have rated this lower for what they claim is a lack of color, I believe that the marvel in this recording comes from the precision in Montreal's playing. Fine, Dutoit may be harsh on the musicians, but his demands are well met. As far as the recording itself is concerned, the mic setup captures the accoustics of the hall extremely well and all sections of the orchestra are heard at appropriate levels. Finally, this recording continues the quality line of classical CD's that Decca/London has produced.

I'm usually a non-fan of Dutoit, but this 1993 Swan Lake is riveting in its brash dramatic impact and vivid sound. It far surpasses Decca's two other older versions, Ansermet and Ashkenazy, in both departments, although Dutoit lacks Ansermet's precision elegance. His reading aims for the throat from the first bar. As far as which version of the changing score has been chosen, I quote the Gramophone, which says that this is "an absolutely complete recording of Tchaikovsky's original score, but including also the ''Russian dance'' in Act 3 (No. 20a, which the composer added after the first performance for the dancer, Pelegaya Karpakova) and the ''Pas de deux'' for Siegfried and Odile another addition (an Introduction, two variations and coda, of which Tchaikovsky orchestrated only the second variation). The ''Pas de deux'' (No. 5) which has sometimes recently been interpolated into Act 3 is now restored to its right place in Act 1."

Some listeners may find Dutoit too hectic and the sound overly aggressive (there are also some inexplicably sluggish tempos here and there, as in the Act 1 Pas d'Action), in which case they can turn to Decca's latest Swan Lake from Gergiev, which is slower, more relaxed, but very satisfying in its musicality.

turn the volume up....turn the lights off...sit back and enjoy a dynamite recording. Panoramic wide soundstage, glistening detail and orchestra and conducting to match. ITS A MUST HAVE for the long haul.

People who love SWAN LAKE usually praise Ansermet's recording, mostly not because it is the best but because of the money. Yeah, yeah the same old story, take a gifted young conductor, record him,pay thge critics to praise him day and night, sell his interpretation only on the most distinguished, technically enhanced records like Capitol, RCA Living stereo or Decca SXL, LXT or SAX and don't cease to push this guy through decades. In the end even the collector's items like those acclaimed Ansermet records are sold for the highest prices. But money still is not quality. A marathon runner like a thirsty child will always prefer clear water to milk shakes and coke... Any new recording, any good effort to revitalise Tchaikovsky's ballet is to be praised, at least as nobody around seems nowadays to be able to create such beautiful classical music.
Dutoit's version is a very good one, as was Andre Previn's in his own way, but as today everybody wants to see a movie's director's cut - another marketing craze - so at least no cineast would like to see his favourite movie like perhaps POW WOW highway or "ATANARJUAT"(the insider's Indian movie, not "Dances like wolf"...) "Le Dibbouk", "The Golem","The Duelists", "Castle keep", "Inspector Lavardin", "Topkapi", "Never on Sunday", "The Ghost and Mrs.... (with Rex Harrsion)".... Nobody wants to buy and review his favourite movie having some scenes deleted due to any reasons !!!
So why do we accept that "Swan Lake" has been for decades sold to us for good money in a abreviated, cut version? The version the other guy hailed - Gennady Rozhdestvensky's - version and another later Russian recording were the few exceptions.
By the way - the guy favouring the 1969 Russian Recording wasn't that wrong. I "possess" several recordings of SWAN LAKE and compared to my 1968 (3 lp set) recording of Gennady Rozhdestvensky with the Bolschoi Symphony Orchestra of the USSR(yellow Melodya lable) is the most beautiful and COMPLETE recording I've ever heard. I was really delighted by the violin intermezzi... and the sound was really ok. Do you really prefer the "Museum of mdern art" because of its clean windows and entrance hall when you can visit the Cheops Pyramid, the Great Wall in China, Ludwig II.'s Schloss Neuschwanstein, the Escorial, the Louvre, the Hagia Sofia, the Akropolis, the Tower Bridge or the Kremlin...?
By the way the world premiere of SWAN LAKE or "Lebednoje (j)ozero" in its original title, that means the first tim ever that this ballet was performed, that is that this beautiful music was played of course also happened on the stage of the Bolschoi Theatre two years after it was completed by Tchaikovsky. I think it was in 1877. It is well known to a few that the Ansermet & co. versions are not complete recordings of SWAN LAKE. It originally has 3 lps. And the sound of my Melodya records is really beautiful. We should be happy these recordings were made and published so that so many talented conductors could play them all day long to get better.
It's nothing new that every new American recording is proclaimed by hundred of critics worldwide to be the best ever at any time. But that's because these guys are paid for it, not because of the quality of the musicians. That's the Bob Dylan strategy to create a "BD" brand by making a certain Robert Zimmermann the greatest singer songfighter ever. The truth for those who know is that he just can't sing, play the guitar or harp very good nor write good song, but that all that is done for him. Caruso was the best singer of all time and he was heard on the radio worldwide, needing no sound effect and enhanced dynamics or eagerly writing critics like musical-cheerleaders. The lovers of classical music all over the world know that the best composers came from the old world (Germany,Austria, Italy,France, Russia, Chehoslovakia, Finnland, Spain, England, Hungary and a few more) as do the best instrumentalists who are the Russians, Polish and Romanians foremost. People in the new world lack clearness and transparency and of course history and cultural identity compared to us in good old Europe. But there has been some successful exchange in the last 60 years or so. We learnt about Coke, Fastfood,NBA,Hoolywood and western films (and what ethnic cleansing really meant, as told to us by Willie Dunn's song "Louis Riel") and the new world invited almost every single great musician to earn money in the states. As a result today the Asians are disposing far more gifted musician than the states could ever buy out.

Sometimes man has to be patient and smart. Tchaikovsky loved Delibes' ballets. On hearing one certain he claimed that if he had known that beautiful ballet before he surely wouldn't have written "Swan Lake". Let's be glad he didn't and let's hail every good performance that is the result of love, work and genius. Why always call everything new the best ever. That's stupid. Are there any better pyramids than Egypt's, any longer and better wall than China's long wall... So, please let us be serious, enjoy all good music which is all god's music because otherwise it wouldn't have been produced and not pay too much attention to the money, the price. If one has sold his soul he never got a god price from the bad guy below. That's sure. Let's enjoy the music and not confuse art (classical music) with the Olympics handing out gold medals to those who have completely exhausted, most recently crossed the finish line as the winners, when in fact their ranking is perhaps 29th or 23rd.
Listen to Rozhdestvensky's Swan Lake if you get a chance and then you may perhaps catch an idea of what all the well paid hurray-critics in NY are really listening to in their spare time...

This recording was my very first recording of the complete Swan Lake, and I listed to it for one and a half years, never fully enjoying Swan Lake. I'm an avid Tchaikovsky fan, especially drawn to his ballets. I hold Sleeping Beauty in the highest place, and of course I'm charmed by the Nutcracker, but from the CD I with the scraps of recycled music from his 3rd symphony, and the timbre of the orchestral tutti that becomes numbing after many hours (compared to the more diverse and inventive scoring of Nutcrk and SlpBty).
Even though I thought I didn't like Swan Lake, I picked up a ANTAL DORATI's fine one on Mercury. I had heard this recording before and was at first turned-off by the harsh clarity of the sound (the recording is so bright, alive and clear that you even hear the mistakes, but now I've become a different listener- Dorati is of a different tradition, and beyond being merely "correct"...) Upon my second listen to Dorati, Swan Lake sprang to life. The most dull parts from Dutoit seemed especially lively in Dorati's. His tempi are markedly faster, the sound is bright and living, and dance is so integrated into Dorati's interpretaion, it sounds as if the whole orchestra will get up and dance the ballet themsleves!! What better way to play, than to sound like you LOVE playing it!?
In Dutoit's defense, there is some etremely beautiful Orchestral playing no doubt. (although the poor orchestra, he was probably a JERK to them)I urge most people to buy both, even if you are only partially a Tchaik fan. Ballerina's should stick with Dorati for tempo (my dance friends have made fun of my Dutoit recording for its frumpy tempi)- however this is all up to taste. Dutoit's sound is like a Beef stew- All the potatoes, beef, and veggies taste the same. The orchestra seems to have one (beautiful) color. Dorati is like fruit salad- many different twists of tang, tartness, and sweetness- the orchestra has many more colors (alleviating some of that characteristic 'orchestral tutti' that can start to sound the same)
Again, both are fine recordings, and you should maybe own both. Just buy Dorati to hear some truly Tchaikovsky, truly Russian-sounding music.

Track 9 and 10 on cd1(swan themes) and the final on cd2 pretty much sums up this performence, those soaring strings in the first swan theme are incredible and overall I think this is the best performence of this masterpiece that there is,Dutiot and the Montreal synphony put passion,romance,emotion,and a strong imatigative element into the performance,there is wonder and enchantment to and they perform all the great melodies magnificently from the swan theme the waltzes all the dances and swan dances and the great dramatic finale,the phrasing of the melodies from Dutiot is excellent ,Dutiot gives it a theatrical feel as well he conveys some of the dances in a symphonic manner that is very effective.The overall performence is beutifully played and with drama as well,they convey the symphonic scope of the music as well, backed up with very good sound.Colin moorfoot and producer ray minshull did a really good engineering job, its a shame that the Montreal synphony are not noted for being a really good orchestra for Tchaikovskys music because i think Dutiot and Montreal do all his music great and in this one of my favorite works of his and there are 2 reveiws in here that i think are way off,one review called this boring i think he is way off,its ashame Dutiot left Montreal,also i think this work is to mutilated on stage these chorogerphers always manage to screw them up,except balinshene and marikovo.To here it in a performence like this is the way to go.THIS TCH MUSIC LOVER REVIEW BELOW IS A JOKE,HES WAY OFF I WOULD IGNORE IT.

I have been listening recordings of Swan Lake over 30 years now and nothing comes close to the Melodiya recording made by the renown Russian Conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky in 1969 with USSR RTV Large Symphony Orchestra. I listened to many other recordings digital or otherwise and still no one can reproduce the vitality of this recording. Rozhdestvensky's tempi are perfect, fast where it needs to be and "just right" where it needs to be slow. I am not a dancer and because of that I do not listen this piece as a dancer and I adjust my ecpectations when I watch a video of it. But When I listen to a purely musical recording, I can't stand any other recording. When Dutoit's recordings begun showing up on the CD racks in the 80's, I used to snap them up, but after a while I realized that they all sounded quite alike, and I stopped buying them. Even though I never listened to his recording of the Swan Lake with the Montreal Symphony, I have no desire to buy it since I have found a coveted copy of a 20 bit remastered CD set of Melodiya recording of Gennady Rozhdestvensky. As far as I know this recording is out of print in the USA, but it exists in the European Union. I wish Amazon would sell it because it would be a popular sell out. Years ago I made one comment on the Amazon site on another out-of-print Melodiya recording-the Gayaneh Ballet by Khachaturian. A man from Scotland got in touch with me about it and after few emails, I sent him the second copy I had (by pro arte)-all original CD's. To my extreme amazement he found a 20 bit copy of the Rozhdestvensky Melodiya remastering by BMG records and sent it to me to reciprocate what I had done for him. I immediately threw all of the other recordings away and made copies of it to play fearing that I might somehow damage the original cd's. The remastered recording is everything and more. The brass is even livelier, the sound is lusher, all of the dullness of the Melodiya recording gone. I felt like I had found a long lost child and want to keep this recording near and dear to me.

If you can find the BMG/Melodiya 20 bit remastering, buy it at any cost, because there is nothing like it.