Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable score combines with the magical choreography inspired by Lev Ivanov in an atmosphere of fantasy and the supernatural. Hoffmann’s Christmas story unfolds with breathtaking splendour and beauty in the most festive and enduring of all ballets. The Royal Ballet, whose Director, Sir Anthony Dowell, plays Drosselmeyer, is joined by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

Anthony Dowell, Alina Cojocaru, Ivan Putrov, Miyako Yoshida, Jonathan Cope The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Evgenii Svetlanov

FORMAT: NTSC; REGION 1 | PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9 | APPROX RUN TIME: 133 MINS | SOUND: DOLBY SURROUND / LPCM STEREO

Extra features include
• The Transformation Revealed Behind-the-scenes secrets of the spectacular Christmas tree scene
• Producer Sir Peter Wright on the production and Sir Anthony Dowell on the role of Herr Drosselmeyer
• Fixed wide shots of the Snowflakes and Transformation scenes

R E V I E W S:

‘...gorgeously staged Nutcracker.’ -- The Guardian

‘…fabulously entertaining. …a deliciously mysterious Herr Drosselmeyer played by Dowell. I plan on returning to this ‘Nutcracker’ many,many times.’ -- The San Francisco Chronicle

‘Peter Wright’s traditional production of The Nutcracker is lovely Christmas stuff, with lots of tutus and tiaras.’ -- The Mail on Sunday

‘Now you don’t have to leave the comfort of your armchair to enjoy one of the most magical productions of recent years whenever you wish – in pin-sharp widescreen with CD-quality Dolby Digital surround sound. …Needless to say, the dancers are top class, the costumes exquisite, the music delightful and the sets as sumptuous as a wedding cake. Enjoy the best that ballet has to offer from the best seat in the house – your own.’ -- HMV Choice

Also available on Blu-ray

One of the most vibrant, colourful and eye-catching productions staged at London’s Royal Opera House who offered it as the 2009 Christmas presentation. Starting out life as Vakula the Smith, whatever its title, Tchaikovsky’s opera was based on Gogol’s story, Christmas Eve, its lighthearted fairytale aimed at creating an evening of delightful fantasy. The plot is complicated and requires a large cast, but taken down to its bare bones, it tells the story of Vakula, whose mother is courted by many men including the Devil, she too being something of a witch. He falls for the young village wench, Oxana, a rather highly-strung filly who says he will have to get the Empresses shoes before she will marry him. With the help of the Devil, who carries him on his back to St. Petersburg, he does successfully obtain a pair of the Empresses shoes. Victorious he returns only to find a contrite Oxana who has missed him greatly, and wants him as her husband with or without the Empresses shoes. Though it was heavily revised by Tchaikovsky to create Cherevichki (The Tsarina’s Slippers), he thought very highly of the finished product, but it has never found a place in the international opera repertoire. With a largely Russian cast, the Royal Opera House turned it into a visual spectacular, presenting one big scene after another, with big ballet scenes and a massive extravaganza at the Empresses palace. The cast is superb throughout, with Vsevolod Grivnov a heroic heldontenor as Vakula; Olga Guryakova a charming and typical Russian soprano as Oxana; Larissa Diadkova is a fulsome Solokha in voice and stature, but it is the big voice of Vladimir Matorin as Chub that almost steals the show. Maybe the chorus is just a little tentative at times, particularly at the return of Vakula, but with the range of magnificent costumes they still make a visual delight. A joint BBC/Royal Opera House product, the whole presentation is superb, the costume’s colours so thrillingly brought to your screen.

Solokha – Larissa Diadkova
The Devil – Maxim Mikhailov
Chub – Vladimir Matorin
Panas – John Upperton
Oxana – Olga Guryakova
Vakula – Vsevolod Grivnov
Pan Golova – Alexander Vassiliev
The Schoolmaster – Viacheslav Voynarovskiy
Odark – Olga Sabadoch
Wood Goblin – Changhan Lim
Echo – Andrew Macnair
His Highness – Sergey Leiferkus
Master of Ceremonies – Jeremy White

The Royal Ballet Royal Opera House Orchestra
Alexander Polianichko, conductor

Francesca Zambello, stage director
Alastair Marriott, choreography

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, November 2009.

Bonus: - Introducing Cherevichki by Francesca Zambello
- Cast and Characters
- Staging Gogol's world

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 154 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Also available on Blu-ray

Yolanda Sonnabend's Faberge-inspired designs evoke a world of Imperial Russia in Anthony Dowell's acclaimed production for The Royal Ballet of one of the world's best-loved ballets. Marianela Nuñez as Odette/Odile and Thiago Soares as Prince Siegfried bring new vitality to a compelling story of tragic romance. The Russian conductor Valeriy Ovsyanikov directs the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Tchaikovsky's lush romantic score. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound. Bonus features include illustrated synopsis, cast gallery, interview with Anthony Dowell and Four Swan Queens, an exclusive 30-minute panel conversation on the demands of dancing the role of the Swan Queen with former Prima Ballerinas Dame Beryl Grey, Dame Monica Mason, Lesley Collier and current principal Marianela Nuñez.

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
SWAN LAKE

Odette / Odille – Marianela Nuñez
Prince Siegfried – Thiago Soares
The Princess, Siegfried's mother – Elizabeth McGorian
An Evil Spirit / Von Rothbart – Christopher Saunders
The Tutor – Alastair Marriott
Benno – David Pickering

Royal Ballet, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden
Valeriy Ovsyanikov, conductor

Anthony Dowell, stage director
Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, choreographers

Recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 16 and 24 March 2009.

Bonus features:
- Illustrated synopsis.
- Cast gallery.
- Interview with Anthony Dowell.
- Four Swan Queens - Exclusive 30-minute conversation on the demands of dancing the role of the Swan Queen with former Prima Ballerinas - Dame Beryl Grey, Dame Monica Mason, Lesley Collier and current principal Marianela Nuñez.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: Half DTS 2.0 and 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: French, German, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 179 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W S:

This generally acclaimed Royal Ballet production of Swan Lake follows on the heels of the somewhat disappointing Blu-ray Mariinsky performance starring Ulyana Lopatkina (Odette/Odile) and conducted by Valery Gergiev (Fanfare 32:5). Both versions are based on the choreography of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, with additional choreography for the Royal Ballet production by the esteemed Frederick Ashton. Any Swan Lake revolves around the central roles of Odette/Odile. In the case of Marianela Nuñez versus Lopatkina, one is not necessarily better than the other. Rather, they are very different. Nuñez is all about elegance, grace, and smooth, legato flow. She exhibits a persistent and rather resigned sadness and vulnerability in the white swan act. It is critical that there is ample contrast as Odile. In the ballroom scene, Nuñez is far more animated, saucy, and seductive. She cannot match Lopatkina’s flawless, almost surgically precise technique, but Lopatkina is cold, sterile, and certainly not very vulnerable as Odette. Nuñez radiates humanity in her finely nuanced but somewhat subdued acting. Thiago Soares (Siegfried) clearly has developed admirable rapport with Nuñez (apparently offstage as well as onstage). He is far preferable to the terminally bland Danila Korsuntsev in the Mariinsky Swan Lake. Conductor Valeriy Ovsyanikov, as in his Royal Ballet Sleeping Beauty, applies generally fast tempos, with an emphasis on clarity of instrumental lines. Compared to Antal Dorati in his legendary Mercury recording, Ovsyanikov can be equated with an overdose of valium. This beautifully staged Swan Lake is just too sedate. The whole thing gives the impression of a subdued and reverential allegiance to tradition. The sumptuous sets evoking Imperial Russia (presumably in the time of Tchaikovsky) and colorful costumes are gorgeous. The high-resolution sound features excellent mid-range detail, sparkling high frequencies, and warm bass. Extras include a short interview with Anthony Dowell discussing Swan Lake and this production, and a more lengthy presentation entitled “Four Swan Queens.” The comments of the four ladies are pretty superficial, with a few interesting anecdotes. The young Nuñez appears to be intimidated or deferential to the three older prima ballerinas to the point where she has little to say.

This production offers nothing that is new or remotely controversial. Viewers will have to choose between Lopatkina’s technical perfection and the lyrical grace of the far more likable Nuñez (who, by the way, is no slouch from a purely technical standpoint). Neither Ovsyanikov nor Gergiev are particularly memorable when compared to the electricity generated by Dorati. If I had to choose, I would probably go with the Royal Ballet, primarily because of Nuñez and her obvious rapport with Soares.

-- Arthur Lintgen, Fanfare [3-4/2010] Reviewing Blu-ray version

Classical Music

Classical Music

All the other works of art, literature and music titled "Seasons" treat the seasons as determined by the weather and human activity (planting and harvest, heat and cold) characteristic of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Not so with Tchaikovsky. He divides the year into it's twelve months. Each piece of the piano cycle illustrates a month of the year. This is most likely due to the demands of it's St Petersburg publisher Nikolay Bernard, who in 1875 asked Tchaikovsky to write suitable piano pieces for the twelve 1876 issues of his periodical Nouvelliste as musical inserts for domestic performance, which Tchaikovsky was very happy to do, not least because of the generous remuneration he could expect for them. Each piece is prefaced by a literary motto drawn from contemporary Russian poetry, no doubt added retrospectively by the publisher. Poets quoted include Alexander Pushkin, Alexey Tolstoy, Nikolay Nekrasov, Vasily Zhukovsky and Afanasy Fet. On this new release, Tchaikovsky's Seasons are performed by Andrej Hoteev.

To us, the Rolston String Quartet, the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is simply irresistible - and so, a debut album containing only his finest chamber works was an obvious choice. Cherished for his memorable and beautifully simplistic melodies, Tchaikovsky's music is innately joyous, virtuosic, and heart-wrenching, often all at once- yet never violent in nature. As musicians, we adore the charm and childhood nostalgia that Tchaikovsky is able to encompass from start to finish. In this album, we have selected a work from each of his early, middle, and late periods: his String Quartet No. 1 in D major, selections from his Children's Album, and his beloved Souvenir de Florence for string sextet. Not only could we showcase a quartet that we treasure, but we were given the opportunity to collaborate with two of the Chapel's brilliant professors: violist Miguel da Silva and cellist Gary Hoffman. We gravitate towards Tchaikovsky's chamber music more than other composers' because of his stunning ability to write symphonically: right form the opening chords of the D major quartet, Tchaikovsky expands the sonic possibilities of the traditional string quartet towards that of a symphony orchestra. To round out the program are five delicate and endearing pieces: our favorite selections from Tchaikovsky's Children's Album for solo piano, arranged for string quartet by Rostislav Dubinsky, the founding first violinist of the Borodin Quartet.

SYMPHONY NO.5

While speaking on Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, Op.21, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky posited that his colleague “does not strive after profundity, but carefully avoids routine, seeks out new forms, and thinks about musical beauty more than observing established traditions.” Acclaimed violinist Moonkyung Lee endeavors to emulate this approach on her Navona debut Tchaikovsky – Works for Violin and Orchestra, in which she presents several performances of beloved Tchaikovsky alongside the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Miran Vaupotić. Lee finds particular success in this regard with her performance of Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35, elevating several of the work’s unorthodoxies to the foreground. Her bow breathes new life into the unusual cadential sections in the first movement, its song-like Canzonetta second movement, and the Russian folk-infused finale. The album also includes a performance of the Méditation, a piece originally written as a middle movement for the violin concerto before its inclusion as the first movement of the Souvenir d’un lieu cher (Memory of a dear place), Op.42. Its nostalgic emotions are quintessential Tchaikovsky, and its subsequent popularity has led to presentations as a standalone piece. Lee chooses to perform an arrangement for violin and orchestra made by Glazunov in 1896. Finally, the violinist seizes the Sérénade mélancolique in B-flat minor, Op.26, Tchaikovsky’s first work for violin and orchestra. Like the Méditation and the violin concerto, it is filled with the intense emotion intrinsic to so much of his music. Lee singles out the end of the piece as particularly magical, lauding the moment “when the fragmented theme is reiterated by the clarinet and the solo violin in absolute stillness.”

“The will to happiness” determined the life and work of the great Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, even though it did not always enable him to reach his goal. Jorg Handstein’s audio biography takes this motto and fills it with the moving story of Tchaikovsky’s life, his survival and, of course, his impressive music. In nine chapters, on the first three of the four albums in this release, Tchaikovsky’s life can be vividly experienced, and his most famous and most important compositions heard, all closely interwoven with the highly exciting events of his life. Further along in the release, the Pathetique Symphony can be heard in a complete recording by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Mariss Jansons (recorded live in June 2013), together with the first ever album recording of the a capella song “The Nightingale,” performed by the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen in a live recording from January 2016.

Elman made two commercial recordings of the Tchaikovsky Concerto. The first, with Barbirolli in 1929, has seldom been out of the catalogue in one form or another. The second dates from an LPO session with Boult in 1954 and is much less well known. But dating from December 1945 comes this live Boston/Paray traversal that catches the great violinist still on the right side of physical infirmity and a gradual but inexorable waning of powers. These latter do manifest themselves in particular ways in the companion concerto, the Mendelssohn.

In terms of structure the Boston performance of the Tchaikovsky differs little from the 1929 traversal; the timings for the first movement are in fact almost identical though there are differences in matters of thematic emphasis, metrical displacements, vibrato usage and phrasal elasticity. This is still however, very recognisably, the master tonalist of old, one who imbued every phrase with lavish intensity and a throbbing, molten vivacity. He brings intense concentration and expressive shading to his opening rhetorical statement and the Elmanesque rubato that no-one could quite match. He is very slow and highly romanticised; the orchestral pizzicati that point the rhythm are delayed an age as a result. Elman lavishes prayerful simplicity after the cadenza and his voluptuous vibrato takes on an ever more devastating candour. Behind him the Boston winds are highly characterful and though there is some crunch and other such aural damage (especially in tuttis) it will detain only the pickiest of listener. Elman is not quite certain in his passagework at the end of the movement – though the harmonics are negotiated well enough – but one can hear how eventful and tactful is Tchaikovsky’s orchestration when a fine conductor is in charge clarifying lines. The orchestra emerge newly distinctive in the slow movement – flute and clarinet principals especially. Elman’s phrasing rises and falls, ever more rapturous and involved, his line taking on more and more a sense of direction, the orchestral string blending under Paray of real distinction. In the finale the orchestral accents are commensurately strong; this is the one movement where the excitement of a live performance impels Elman to a fleeter performance than his earlier commercial recording though oddly it’s not necessarily more overpoweringly exciting.

The Tchaikovsky is a reminder of Elman’s eminence; in the first decade of the century it was he who was the most fêted of young fiddlers and the Tchaikovsky was for a decade or more "his" concerto. The Mendelssohn dates from November 1953. His slightly earlier commercial recording with Defauw and the Chicago Symphony has always been highly regarded whilst the twilight Vanguard session in Vienna that produced the later disc, with the State Opera Orchestra under Golschmann has not. Again Elman’s overall conception changed little and the difference in timings between Mitropoulos and Golschmann are negligible. Elman is perhaps guilty of some rough playing in the opening movement of the Concerto; some rather inelegant expressive pointing is another particular feature (but how irrepressibly Elman it sounds). With the highlighting comes a rather static introspection and an equally glutinous tonal projection that can too dramatically personalise the line. Nevertheless against this one can cite the finger position changes that remind one of the old lion and the beautiful strands of lyrical weight he can and does lavish – even if the vibrato itself is now slowing and the tempos ossifying somewhat in terms of phrasal interconnectedness. In the Andante he no longer possesses the elfin projection or sense of relaxation that the greatest interpreters of this work bring to it (if indeed he ever really did – his recording with Defauw, though of course highly personalised, was highly impressive). He does rather distend the movement (to 7.50). He is jaunty and unmotoric in the finale; he never used it as a piece of showmanship as other, less scrupulous colleagues did. He also makes a couple of fluffs on the lower strings but these are minor details – even if the final bars are rather grandiosely emphatic.

The recordings have been handled with skill; the attendant problems are really insignificant ones and won’t be in any way problematic. As one who welcomes anything by Elman, no matter how minor, these major live performances have a still compelling part to play in expanding and widening the Elman discography; that they are ancillary to the main body of his recordings is undeniable but wise heads will want to hear them and reflect on Elman’s place in the hierarchy of great violinists.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Originally set in the 15th century, Tchaikovsky's "The Enchantress" is updated to the present day in this innovative production. The charismatic, emancipated Nastasya, who rejects the advances of the devious Mam�rov, duly faces the implacable forces of traditional values in a society riven by divisions between liberal freedoms and religious orthodoxies. The tragic outcome engulfs everyone. This production was a triumphant success - 'At the end, storms of enthusiasm, the likes of which are rare even at Oper Frankfurt' (Neue Musikzeitung) - both for the staging and performers, with soprano Asmik Grigorian hailed as a 'miracle' and baritone Iain MacNeil as 'world class'.

This selection contains narration about Tchaikovsky's life and works by Jeremy Siepmann, Malcolm Sinclair and others. It contains a 106 page companion booklet with the complete spoken text, a detailed historical background and graded listening plan.
This selection was recorded at Hats Off Studio, Oxfordshire, and Motivation Sound Studios, London, England.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD
Swan Lake is perhaps the best-loved of all the classical ballets and has a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory. This new production by Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett features additional choreography while remaining faithful to Petipa and Ivanov’s classic. John Mcfarlane’s opulent designs provide an atmospheric, period setting for this enthralling love story, illuminated by Tchaikovsky’s sublime score. Marianela Nuñez brings both poignancy and glitter to the dual role of Odette / Odile, with Vadim Muntagirov as the yearning Prince Seigfried, while the corps de ballet are showcased at their spellbinding best as the enchanted swans and cygnets. “What a magnificent achievement this is. The young choreographer Liam Scarlett has given Covent Garden its first new Swan Lake in 30 years, and it’s a winner. Big, bold, and beautiful, it’s completely distinctive- Scarlett has put his stamp all over this production- yet it honors the traditions of the Royal Ballet.” (The Times)