5/5 Tchiakowvsky - Swan Lake (Paris Ballet)
  by Sophia (New York)
This version of Swan Lake is choregraphed by Rudolph Nureyev and is classical ballet at its best. The soloists dance with precision and have a beautiful presence. The corps de ballet dance are breath-takingly beautiful -- the choreography is exquisite. The camera angles also bring out the excitement and passion of this ballet. It's as if we are seeing the shape of the soul of Swan Lake through the ballet.

4/5 A beautiful performance overall!
  by Damien M. Abrusley (New Orleans, LA)
This performance of the Paris Opera is very beautiful and elegant. While the lack of emotion by Jose and Agnes does detract some from the performance, their dancing is graceful, soft, and beautiful. With more emotion, I would've given this an extra star. Don't let this keep you from buying this dvd. I changed my review of this performance. In the beginning, I didn't like the camara work. It has really grown on me. The camara really captures the patterns and lighting which contributes to the mood of this performance. The picture quality, sound, lighting, and performance make this a stunningly beautiful presentation.

5/5 Immaculate
  by Balletomane
I wavered over buying this version due to the comments of other reviewers who considered the piece to be dominated by two less than involved principals. Fortunately I went ahead and what a delight this production is in the French manner - and I think that is the key as it is so fluid in dancing and graceful in style.
The production values are excellent -the scenery is restrained and complements the dancers without dominating them, the lighting is unobtrusive in setting mood changes and the pastel costuming is elegant and appropriate. The PO corps de ballet is (as always) highly skilled and large groupings move effortlessly around the stage - they are a pleasure in their own right. As for the Principals, I would choose words like imperious over icy,and anguished instead of impersonal for Agnes Letestu. She dances silkily with precision and manages the dual roles with convincing changes of emotion -e.g. the closeup of Odile's ominously wicked smile on her entry to meet the Prince. Martinez as her companion is less overt but his style is controlled elegance and if you are familiar with it then you will know what to expect.
Karl Paquette I liked in Paquita and he is also well cast in the tutor's role and as a suitably Machiavellian Rothbart rather than the usual openly evil characterisation - with a bonus of getting the best costuming. Overall an engaging production well worth having with one shortcoming that is still too common with video directors who do not appreciate that closeups of dancers rarely work. A notable exception is mentioned above,but there were still too many for my taste. They interfere with the flow and invariably work against the performance - you don't see them from the circle and neither should we on dvd. That apart the spread of shots from different angles (and above) was seamless and no significant moments were missed so together with a soundtrack also superb in surround sound this version of Nureyev's production is highly recommended.

4/5 classical ballet
  by Martha Caflisch (Zürich, Switzerland)
Wonderful example of French classcial style - lacking the emotion of the Bolshoi, but excellent in its own.

5/5 An Outstanding Traditional Swan Lake!
  by J. M WILINSKY (teaneck, NJ United States)
What makes a Swan Lake traditional? Some might say it should follow the Petipa/Ivanov model, but they did not really honor Tchaikovsky's intentions and even used some music not written by him! He was so furious that he divorced himself from the project. To be called "traditional" A Swan Lake really needs to borrow from Petipa/Ivanov but also needs to keep Tchaikovsky's intentions alive as well as utilizing modern expectations. Suffice it to say that this performance certainly qualifies. The choreography is outstanding and complex as is the dancing by all. This Swan Lake is quite different from Nureyev's version with Margot Fonteyn. The first act in this one is more complete, but the black swan pas de deux is along the Petipa/Ivanov concept whereas the one with Fonteyn utilized Tchaikovsky's original concept. The choreography does have Nureyev's concept of balancing male and female dancing. The scenery and costumes are somewhat simpler here than in the older one, but still appropriate and interesting. The most beautiful aspect of this performance is simply that it is danced by the Paris Opera Ballet, one of the greatest ballet companies in the world! This is a wonderful, complete Swan Lake and is highly recommended!