Tchaikovsky - THE SLEEPING BEAUTY- BOLSHOI BALLET

This Sleeping Beauty was filmed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1989 and is a re-release of the Japan-produced "Bolshoi at the Bolshoi" series previously available on VHS. The films were shot without an audience, but are presented with overdubbed applause.

The Bolshoi dances Tchaikovsky's second and grandest ballet in the traditional staging completed in 1973 by then director Yuri Grigorovich, after Marius Petipa and with sets by Simon Virsaladze. At the time Grigorovich's staging was much closer to the original Petipa than the Kirov's own production (available on DVD with Kolpakova/Berezhnoi or Lezhnina/Ruzimatov). This production is still performed by the Bolshoi today.

The DVD features some of the foremost principal dancers of the day: Nina Semizorova as Princess Aurora, Nina Speranskaya as the Lilac Fairy, and Alexei Fadeyechev - easily one of the finest male dancers of the Moscow School from the 1980-90's and a danseur noble if ever there was one - as Prince D?sir?. Yuri Vetrov appears as Carabosse, while Maria Bylova and Alexander Vetrov dance the Blue Bird pas de deux. The Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra is conducted by Alexander Kopylov.

As with all titles in this series, this disc is obviously a video transfer, leaving some of the movements blurred. The sound is offered in simple stereo.

The DVD release doesn't include any bonus material, but comes with a handsome three-language 20-page booklet, introducing and situating the work and the artists. An effort like this needs to saluted, however it will take a bit more accuracy than the Arthaus Musik writers are able to provide at this stage. For example, Kirov dancer, choreographer and artistic director Konstantin Sergeyev is not a son of Nikolai Sergeyev, as the booklet claims. Konstantin Sergeyev staged The Sleeping Beauty for the Kirov Ballet in 1952, but it is of course Nikolai, not Konstantin, who staged it for London's Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1939 and 1946. Yet, to see the outstanding dancers of the Bolshoi, ballet enthusiasts needn't hesitate. See more

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY SUITE

Peter IIyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky did not take up music seriously until he was 22 after studying law and entering the government civil service. But in 1863 he gave up his boring job as a clerk I the Czar’s Ministry of Justice to enter the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory. He later moved to Moscow where he became a music critic and teacher and continued to compose. A brief, unsuccessful marriage when he was 34 led to a nervous collapse. At about this time, he met Madame Nadejda von Meck who became Tchaikovsky’s patroness even though they had never met and probably never did meet. For unclear reasons, she abruptly withdrew her support. By this time, Tchaikovsky was already a world-famous composer. In 1893, he died suddenly after drinking unboiled water in cholera-infested St. Petersburg. Controversy has long raged over whether or not he did it deliberately, but most scholars now believe it was accidental.

Apart from his orchestral works. Tchaikovsky was also a skilled ballet music composer. He used his experience to turning ballet music, which was up until that time nothing more than a sequence of pretty but unconnected tunes, into an organized work like a symphony or opera, outlining the story’s emotional development as well as accompanying the dancer’s steps. He wrote three of the finest ballet-scores in the repertoire: The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty.

The Best Swan Lake On CD.

I have owned several CD recordings of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and this most recent purchase is the best I have heard. I have many recordings of Andre Previn, both as a pianist and a conductor. Andre Previn has never let me down. He has a natural feel for everything I have heard him perform. Previn presents Swan Lake totally complete as Tchaikovsky originally composed it, including the two additional numbers in Act III which were added after the 1st performance. The tempos in each number are ideal and the ADD sound is excellent, considering the recording originates from 1976. I would recommend this version highly over the horribly conducted Bonynge. Better is the Sawallisch but I found the 1994 recording too laid back. Bottom Line: Get this recording for its completeness, conducting, and price! --M Dubin See more

SWAN LAKE: A REMASTERED BALLET MASTERPIECE

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake remains a ballet favorite and a powerful star vehicle for the prima ballerina who must dance the roles of two characters- the "white swan" Odette and the black swan Odile, good and evil. Swan Lake has been recorded many times by celebrated conductors and their orchestras - Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra (here it's Wolfgang Sawallisch and the same orchestra from an earlier period) Canadian Charles Dutroit and the Montreal forces, Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge better known for his operatic vehicles with his wife Joan Sutherland, Antal Dorati and his orchestra, and even Herbert Von Karajan joined the band wagon of conducting great ballets- he conducted the complete Giselle and a concert suite of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. Wolfgang Sawallisch was a brilliant conductor, and unfortunately like so many conductors in Karajan's time, he was underappreciated. This Swan Lake is beautifully restored and sounds fresh, powerful and lyrical. The music for Swan Lake has symphonic qualities, with a contrast of serene and jovial dances and melancholy and even fatalistic themes. The Dance of the Little Swans is bouncy and cheery, the violin solos for Odette's solo dances are almost mournful (she's mourning her swan condition/curse) and the Swan Theme is powerful and stormy, borrowed from the last notes to a Wagner's Lohengrin prelude. For these reasons critics did not initially warm up to the "heavy" music of Swan Lake. But eventually it became the most beautiful of the "ballet-blancs" ever made. Other "white tutu" ballets include Giselle (Act 2 the Willis) and La Bayadere (Act 2 The Land of Shades). The music is to die for in this recording and I highly recommend it. --Rudy Avila "Saint Seiya" Read more.

RUSSIAN DANCE FROM SWAN LAKE - TCHAIKOVSKY

"Swan Lake" is probably the most popular work by Tchaikovsky, because it contains all the elements that can capture the hearts of the audience; beautiful melodies, melancholy lyricism that tenderly moves the heart, sweet and sentimental feelings, sympathetic character, and a fantasic story presented in a poetic and dramatic manner.

Tchaikovsky had studied many romantic legends and fairy tales before writing this ballet piece, and so laid the foundation of a total art in which ballet and music are integrated to create a fantasic world of dreams.

"Russian Dance" is believed to be originally written as a solo dance for the main character Odile.