Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47460 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-29
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Classical, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 146 minutes

Customer Reviews

Fabulous "Swan Lake" and Russian Prima
That is, probably, the best production of "Swan Lake" ever released on DVD. The performance is taken by close-up throughout. You will get a unprecedented chance to admire the dance, the footwork, the costumes in all their beauty and opulence. The filming is very sharp and will be a pleasant surprise for those who are only used for theatrical settings whilst watching the ballet.

Ultimately a disappointment
Those of us fortunate to have seen Svetlana Zakharova dance Odette/Odile either with the Mariinsky or later with the Bolshoi must have been delighted when this DVD was released. However it is a sad disappointment for a variety of reasons.
While Zakharova's own performance is a visual treat and. while she reveals an affinity with the great dual roles, she is very much let down by the supporting dancers, even though Roberto Bolle is as handsome and winning as ever. The Jester (Antonino Sutera) is embarrassing to watch and backs those people whose versions have excluded this role, such a MacKenzie's for the ABT.
A secondary reason for not being over-enthusiastic about La Scala's production is the fact that this is the Vladimir Bourmeister/Lev Ivanov version which extends the first act and truncates the third. My own dislike for this version is personal and professional but buyers should be warned that they will be disappointed if they are looking to see the great Black Swan pas de deux in Act 3. If they are not familiar with the Bourmeister version, they will wonder what they are watching.
However Zakharova is wonderful to watch, the ease of her extensions borders on the arrogant while her technique is, as ever, a trifle indeosyncratic but marvellous to behold.
If you are looking merely for a single version of Swan Lake, I would personally select Yulia Makhalina's 1991 Kirov version in which she is wonderfully supported by Igor Zelensky, although this is marred by the lack of an audience. A more modern version is the recent Mariinsky one with Ulyana Lopatkina dancing Odette/Odile. Many people rate Lopatkina the best current O/O, but I find her dancing a bit too self-obsessed.
If you want to be surprised and possibly delighted (and if you ignore some dodgy over exposure in the first act due to poor camera work at a live performance), why not buy the DVD of Irina Kolesnikova leading the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre? Hers is an extraordinary performance that deserves a far wider audience than it seems to have gained to date.
Let us hope that Zakharova records Swan Lake soon with Filin as Prince Siegfried - that would be a real treat.