Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet)
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Free Music Notes for Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (complete ballet)
Free Music Review: Loving the classics
Hit: 5 Stars
"Swan Lake" has great meaning for me. I used to rent LPs and would play them in the basement of Fine Arts on the University of Georgia campus. This was in the '50s. There is nothing as soothing as "Swan Lake."Free Music Review: Sheer Romance
Hit: 5 Stars
I'd forgotten how beautiful this music is on its own, without dance (no offense to dancers, though). CD arrived promptly, brand new, in perfect condition, and the price was ideal. A terrific Amazon experience.Free Music Review: Beautiful recording....great sound.
Hit: 5 Stars
I love this recording of Swan Lake. We went to see a peformance without an orchestra, and it was not nearly as powerful as this one. Great price as well in my opinion.Free Music Review: Inspiring Swan Lake
Hit: 5 Stars
The Philadelphia Orchestra did such a splendid job with this Tchaikovsky classic. There are very few COMPLETE ballets around here and I am glad I purchased this.Free Music Review: Which bargain Swan Lake to choose?
Hit: 4 Stars
This Swan Lake, now offered at super-bargain price, was one of Sawallisch's better ventures in Philadelphia. The orchestra is superlative, the recorded sound quite good, and Sawallishc's conducting fairly spirited. He is by nature a foursquare interpreter, so this Swan Lake doesn't dance as lightly or vivaciously as it might. Even so, I can see why someone would be enthusiastic about it.
There's lots of competition in the bargain range, however. In fact, front-line versions are often low priced, including Ozawa with the BSO on DG and Ansermet with his Suisse Romande orchestra on Decca. I would say that the overly refined Ozawa ranks about equal with Sawallisch, and the Boston Sym. certainly plays exquisitely. Dorati with Minneapolis on Mercury is more balletic, but his set is in mono and the orchestra suonds scrappy next to great ensembles like the Philadelphians (the price of the Dorati is higher, too).
Andre Previn gives a solid, middle-of-the-road reading on EMI with the London Sym., and he is never as dull as Slatkin on RCA with the St. Louis Sym., another bargain release that rarely gets off the ground--strange, since this is easy music to conduct if you have a lively beat.
I own or have heard all of them, and the most stylish and exciting is the Ansermet set, offered on a Decca two-fer that needs remastering to take off the digital edge but is otherwise an outstanding example of ballet conducting at its best. By comparison, the glossy Sawallisch reading is conventional and earthbound.
P.S. Dec. 2007 - After writing this review I ran across a lively, robust reading form Viktor Fedotov and the Maryinsky Orch., which outdoes all the above recommendations. It competes nicely with the new Gergiev reading with the same orchestra, labeled as Kirov, on Decca.