Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Swan Lake / Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Theatre

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful, classical version of Swan Lake. It has all the elements and parts I want to see in this ballet: most of the dance segments and artistic excellence and balance. Right from the beginning we can tell this is going to be a great, energetic ballet as Prince Siegfried comes onto the stage in the very beginning and joins his tutor and jester in a lively pas de trois. it is choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, Natalia Bessmetnova's husband and the director of the Bolshoi Ballet at that time. He was a great choreographer and was especially gifted at staging the classics so that they fit the standards and requirements of today. The role of Odette and Odile is danced by Natalia Bessmertnova magnificently. She always danced with a combination of technical excellence and dignity. Another remarkable aspect of this performance is the uniform excellence of the dancing. Nowhere is there the slightest imperfection! Additionally, I was very impressed with the combination of youthful vigor and mature stature of all the dancing. All of the ethnic dances are included, and the Black Swan pas de deux follows the Petipa version. Rothbart is also given some great choreography here, something that is often neglected in other stagings. The sets and costumes are also at the highest standard--absolutely gorgeous. The image and sound are very good, as well, but keep in mind that this is a ballet movie on color film, so it has that special quality that film imparts. If you don't mind a Swan Lake on film, this is a fine Swan Lake to have in any collection.
Sadly, on February 19, 2008 Natalia Bessmertnova died of a grave, protracted illness, just a few weeks after the release of this DVD. After her retirement from the stage, she had been teaching until her illness.

Performance of a great quality! The orchestra plays so fine,with a rich and beautiful sound.A special attention should be paid to the soloists- the violin and cello leaders,as well as the oboe player whose play meet very high standarts indeed.

Natalya Bessmertnova is my favorite prima-balerina. She is so perfect that when you watch her,you completely forget what a difficult physical act is the dancing and how many hours stand behind a single performance.
She embodies the spirit of the balley. She dances with her heart and soul,not with her body. Natalya Bessmertnova gives an excellent interpration of the White and Black Swans. She is so tender,unearthy,angelic in the role of the White Swan,and decisive and strong-willed as the Black Swan.
The other balley soloists perform also at a high level.
My sole regret was that the recording was not taken during a live performance.

To call this the Ultimate Swan Lake is very misleading. In fact the DVD itself does not carry this title. It is merely "Swan Lake". It is a pleasant enough production and the corp de ballet are lovely with excellent technique. But Alexander Bogatyrev has no stage presence at all and although his turns are good, his jetes are very lacking - he seems to forget he has a second leg, and never lifts it into arabesque properly, it just hangs down. The decision to take some of the beautiful and dramatic music from the last Act and bring it into the 2nd Act is so wrong. other than the beautiful corp de ballet and strong supporting dancers, this is a very mediocre performance, made all the more disappointing by the hype that it's the ultimate.... For a true ULTIMATE Swan Lake, take a look at ABT's Swan Lake starring Gillian Murphy and Angel Corrella, with Marcelo Gomes in Act II as the Evil Sorcerer. THE ABT version is the best production I've ever seen, and the dancing is exquisite in both technique and artistry, and the ending is the most moving you will see.

There is not much I can add to what has already been said about Tchaikovsky's ultimate Swan Lake, so I will just say that, in my opinion, after viewing other Swan Lake videos, this is BY FAR THE VERY BEST performance I have seen and enjoyed. I hope you, too, will enjoy this superbly magnificant and entertaining performance as much as I have.

While this is the Swan Lake performed by the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, the sound and clarity of the film leaves a lot to be desired. The filming of the ballet is poor and the screen is mostly dark and close ups to show the facial expressions are missing. Hence, frankly I was a bit dissatisfied with the purchase.

This production of Swan Lake is absolutely fantastic. I shared it with my grandaughter, who wouldn't let me take it home. I loved it so much, I bought another one for me.

This film captures the grace, beauty and tension of the stage production. My ballet loving granddaughter was inspired to dance through the night--she was a featured dancer in the Nutcracker this year--and although she is still too young to wear toe shoes, she is not too young to imagine herself as the ultimate swan of Swan Lake.

First of all I totally DISAGREE With that Lady V's comments on this DVD, I have collected many versions of Swan Lake DVD'S and Blurays, this is by far the best, in terms of dance technique, custume, and overall stage presentations. it is the "Russian" Swan Lake you can't judge it using someone's personal view. the image quality and even lightnings are not as good as many other versions of swan lake but, this is made from 1984 Film, there was no DVD technologies nor Bluray, and dance and custums are very Russian, this what the original! if you like the modern, simplified, often modified Swan Lake, then go some where else, there are tons of them on the market. if you are like myself then you will enjoy it.

Yuri Grigorovich who directed Bolshoi for thirty years and choreographed eternal works as Spartacus, Ivan the terrible,Romeo and Juliet, The Legend of Love, et coetera, gave his wife, prima ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova, a chance to, once more in her career,perform the role Odette/Odile in a new wonderful dimention, this time in his own Swan Lake.And if he did rechoreograph Petipa's first and third acts, he also kept some of Ivanov's unsurpassed choreography.He gave the male roles (prince Siegfried and the jester) another weight and lavishingly inserted in the ball scene beautiful pas de deux. Bessmertnava dances throughout the ballet miraculously conveying her immense skill and sensibility to both Odette(graceful and sensitive) and Odile( fierce and seducing).Only Bolshoi could afford to have small parts danced by first rate dancers which is the case.A most memorable Lake, though dated (costumes and scenery). Tchaikovsky's score vividly, passionately performed under Zhuraitis's conducting.