4/5 A common man's point of view.
  by Richard Rawls (Dublin Ga USA)
My comments will be focused on the HD-DVD version of this ballet. First of all Nureyev is not dancing in this ballet. I think the Ad is somewhat deceiving. The principle dancers are Agnes Letestu and Jose Martinez. They are excellent dancers.

The only reason I did not give this production a five star rating is because I did not like the ending. You may call me old-fashioned, but I want to see good triumph over evil, which does not happen in this story. Swan Lake is a story ballet, and is NOT just dancing to beautiful music. This is the second ballet in my considerable collection in which Nureyev came up with a terrible ending. In The Vienna State Opera Ballet.....Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake.....production with Dame Margot Fonteyn, he had Siegfried drown in the Lake of Tears as Odette swims away to remain a Swan-Maiden for all eternity. Plus, he had on more make-up than Margot Fonteyn. In this version, he has Rothbart flying off with the Swan-Maiden clutched in his talons as Siegfried writhes on the ground unable to help her. Again, she must remain a Swan-Maiden for all eternity. I HATE that, period.

NOTE: I must make a correction here, because I misunderstood an important aspect of the meaning of this version of SWAN LAKE. This entire ballet is a dream by Prince Siegfried from beginning to end. The poor Swan Maidens are NOT doomed, because they never existed except in Siegfried's dream. This was brought to my attention by Mr. Robert Campbell for which I am grateful.

This is an HD-DVD (also available in std def and Blu-Ray) and will NOT play on anything but an HD-DVD player. It has excellent resolution in HD. I wonder though, why the video producer thought we needed 12 to 14 close-ups of the ballerinas hands, and their feet? Letestu and her partner are wonderful dancers, though, I thought she lacked the sad expression Odette needs as the trapped Swan-Maiden. I thought at times her expression was rather bored. She was very good as Odile, and Siegfried warmed up to her portrayal of Odette gradually and did not act like he knew her when she first appeared. Letestu gives a good account of herself in her mime role, both in the second and fourth acts. Color and lighting are well done in all four acts and the excellent music is stereo and surround. The running time to end of curtain calls is 140 minutes, and the screen format is 16:9

The dark psychology thing of Rothbart being in all four acts hovering on every move of Siegfried was way overdone, in my opinion. Why do people think they need to psychoanalyze Tchaikovsky's mind forever? The corps members of the POB were superb, but messed up by an overzealous button pushing production manager. Why have a beautiful weaving line of ballerinas and then ruin the effect by shooting close-ups of them? That sort of thing was done all through this ballet. It's good that the theater patrons did not have to see all of the close-ups. The button pushers think they are being artistic, but they know nothing about the art of the ballet. The artistic director of the ballet company should put a stop to their enthusiasm. I spent thirteen years in a TV studio, so I know a little of what I speak.

1/5 Dissapointed
  by Caroline Neupart (denmark)
I was SO dissapointed recieving my new Swan Lake DVD; a HD DVD....I have no HD DVD player and I did not notice that is was a HD movie......
I really suggest that Amazon warn about the format - HD....who has a HD DVD player these days???



3/5 Unusual coreography
  by C. Gonzalez Aviles (La Serena, Chile)
The first few performances of Swan Lake were not very succesful. It all changed when the Petipa/Ivanov version appeared. This has become the "standard version" and has made this ballet very popular. But this is not the version on this disc. In fact, I very much disliked the coreography (Nureyev, 1984), which differs from the Petipa/Ivanov coreography in significant ways. More to the point, Mr. Nureyev has decided that the Prince's tutor and Rothbart are one and the same person! Why mess with the Petipa/Ivanov version? The fact that the picture and sound quality of this HD disc are excellent is not sufficient compensation, at least for me, for these departures from the highly succesful Petipa/Ivanov version. Here is an example: the "battle" scene in the finale (the Prince vs. Rothbart) has been played down to a few steps! The other negative point of this performance is the spartan bareness of the theater. Why didn't they dress-up the stage at least during the ball scene? Of all the versions of Swan Lake on DVD that I own, this is the one I watch least often.

1/5 Beware of this disc
  by dollysowner (Highland Park, Illinois United States)
Before you purchase this disc, be sure that your receiver will decode its soundtrack. The only soundtrack available on the disc is DTS-HD. Because I'm using an older surround processor, I can't play it because there is no sound. I'm not planning on running out to purchase a new processor just so that I can watch one disc.

5/5 Ballet in the family room
  by Lawrence P. Jakobi (Palmdale, CA USA)
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake / Nureyev, Letestu, Martinez, Paris Opera Ballet [HD DVD]Since purchasing both a HD DVD and a Blu-Ray player, we have been wondering why there isn't much of a selection for the classical performing arts. Surround sound and high-def picture both lend themselves perfectly to programming such as Ballet, Opera, and Theatre. Swan Lake was the first offering we saw and ordered it immediately. We were not disappointed. The surround sound provided center seating acoustics as well as the live performance sound of the dancer's feet upon the stage......very live performance type of experience. The high-def picture was flawless and provided a depth that gave the impression of a bird's eye view of a live performance. Equipment used Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player; Denon AVR-4806ci receiver; Polk 7.1 speakers; HP MD5880N high-def TV. All connected via HDMI.