Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet)
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Free Music Notes for Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet)
Free Music Review: A Remastered Ballet Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
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.
Free Music Review: 12 *********s absolutely wonderful
Hit: 5 Stars
If you have read any of my reviews you know that I am a Philadelphia Orchestra worshiper. Well this recording will show anyone why. I have always owned and listened to ( in fact just receive a wonderful recording with Muti and the PO of suites from San Lake and Sleeping Beauty)recorded suites where only the dramatic parts are performed with symphonic gusto.
This was a recording of the ballet! I had never heard a complete performance before. I know that there have to be beautiful recordings out there of this work, but hearing the Philadelphia Orchestra in all its power and glory was astonishing.
The remastering is so beautiful. You are there. You just don't hear the patter of footsteps from the dancers, but I was imagining it as I listened.
The performance is joyous when called for, trajic and powerfully so and, above all, majestice in the end. The strings in their polished sheeny glory and the brass-wow! I almost thought that I was listening to the Dresden Statskapelle brass section all over again.
I could go on and on and write about every dance and movement, but just let me say that this recording, for any Tchaikovsky lover, and music lover who wants to build their library or starting an adventure into classical music, is an absolute must!
Get it!! You wont be sorry.
Free Music Review: The Best Swan Lake!
Hit: 5 Stars
In my opinion, the greatest of Tchaikovsky's three ballets is "Le Lac des Cynges (Swan Lake)" (Op. 20). This ballet is the longest and the most interesting, exhilirating, and beautiful music he has ever written.
This recording of Swan Lake is the best one I've heard so far. This recording has excellent sound quality, the cymbals are loud, and the echoing effect is perfect. If you are a ballet fan like me, you will like--no--love this recording of Swan Lake. The speed is perfect, not too fast, and not too slow. I think that this recording would make an excellent addition to anyone's ballet collection.
Free Music Review: Excellent recording
Hit: 5 Stars
I grew up listening to the Ernest Ansermet complete recording of Swan Lake but couldn't find a complete version of that on CD and so bought this one. Except for very different rhythmic interpretations of two of the pieces (which will take awhile to get used to) this recording is comparable and hightly recommended.Free Music Review: Ravel Bolero
Hit: 5 Stars
Superb concept--ten version of Bolero by ten groups one after the other. Four symphonic orchestras mingled with six others all coming on withy the same powerful insistence of the composition. Excellent, exciting.