Rating: 
Summary: The Kirov Production: Russian
Review: Over the past 40 years, I have seen many live and several taped versions of "Swan Lake". The Kirov production with Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky is magnificent. This is ballet at its consummate best. Having also studied ballet, and danced on point, I can appreciate especially the flawless, expressive and consistently demanding choreography. Makhalina may not convey the emotional depth in the same way as a Fonteyn or a Makarova, but her every movement conveys the sensibility of an Odette and just as effectively an Odile. Ballet is clearly her passion. I believe that this splendid production on video owes much to its director Colin Nears. With so many elements at work, he has quite successfully maintained a balance that enables us the viewers to enjoy the ballet as if it were a live performance and we were in the orchestra.
Rating:
Summary: A great ballet by a great company
Review: The Kirov ballet has outdone itself.
Galina Mezentseva was an excellant Odette.And a convincing Odile.
The corps de ballet were dancing in perfect unison.They portrayed clean technique and swan-like sophistication.
An excellant video.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing Odette/Odile, production
Review: The Kirov Ballet, along with the Paris Ballet, is often considered to be the "gold standard" of ballet companies. The corps are always meticulous and impeccable, and most of all the Kirov training school, the Vaganova Academy, has produced an enormously influential style of dancing. When you see Russian ballerinas like Altynai Asylmuratova or Russian-trained dancers like Alina Cojacaru, you can see the Vaganova imprint. An emphasis on an arched back, expressive arms and hands, and long, even extreme limb extensions with super flexibility. It's a beautiful style of dancing.
So you'd expect the Kirov video of Swan Lake to be out of this world, right? Unfortunately, the video is somewhat of a disappointment. For starters, the "happy" ending is tacked on and jars with Tchaikovsky's music, which clearly creates a mood of love transcending into the otherworld. Most Swan Lake productions end with Odette and Siegfried reuniting in the otherworld. The Kirov's does not, and i think the ballet loses a lot of its power. Another thing that bugged me about the Kirov production was that in Act II, there is no mime from Odette.
The Odette/Odile is another disappointment. Mesentseva's enormous reputation baffles me. To me, she's neither expressive, nor beautiful, nor touching in the dual role of Odette/Odile. She's chilly throughout, and thus the White Swan Adagio loses much of its power. For me, an Odette has to show some sense of joy and rapture. She can't be purely an ice queen. On a technical level, Mesentseva also disappoints. She's a strangely sluggish dancer -- very correct in her posture and positions, but her leaps, turns, and fouettes all lack excitement. I guess she's a very "classical" dancer in that you'll never see sloppy form from her, but I like to see an Odette/Odile with more bravura. In Act 3, particularly, Mesentseva's Black Swan Odile fails to convey much excitement. She churns out the requisite 32 fouettes but her lugubrious style made even this bravura moment strangely phlegmatic. This is not Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Odette/Odile is a famously high-wire ballerina role. It's interesting to contrast her performance to Natalia Makarova's, who was also trained at the Kirov school but of course defected to the west. Mezentseva might be technically the stronger dancer, although both are very disciplined classical dancers with excellent form and the Vaganova imprint. Makarova is more flexible, Mezentseva might be a stronger turner. But while Mezentseva's Odette/Odile feels like an icy performance, Makarova lives the role. One particularly beautiful moment in Swan Lake is just before the White Swan Adagio. Odette sits on the floor, her "wings" folded like a bird. Siegfried touches her, and the wings unfold, and they start dancing. This moment goes for naught with Mezentseva, but with Makarova Siegfried's touch is like a magic spell from which she awakens. Her wings slowly unfold, and if there's a more romantic moment in ballet I can't think of it. (In a recent Swan Lake that I saw, the exquisite Irina Dvorovenko slowly unfolds her wings and looks warily at the Siegfried. Beautiful.)
Konstantin Zaklinsky is a fine, sensitive Siegfried. It's funny how the Western world thinks of the more flamboyant dancers like Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov as being "Russian." Zaklinsky is not like that -- hes a very classical partner, with the idea that "ballet is woman," to quote George Balanchine.
The Kirov corps IS very fine. Act II (the White Swan act) with Ivanov's choreography is considered the ultimate sacred cow of ballet choreography, and a famous test of a company's corps. It is refreshing to see Cygnets who dont almost trip over each other, or white swans whose legs are all at the same level when they arabesque. Another thing I like about the Kirov production is that unlike some productions Act 4 is not shortened very much.
Still, overall I found this video very disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Daley's review in a wrong place
Review: The review by Aleta M. Daley (dated Jan. 9, 2003) is misplaced.
It is for a different version of Kirov's Swan Lake.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Totally Objective and Irrefutable Scores: (scale of 1-10)
DVD Video: 3.0 -
dull transfer of shabby 1986 Soviet Production is blurry, grainy, and shoddily directed. DVD Audio: 2.0 -
has a very annoying tape hiss that can be very distracting during the quieter numbers. Production: Zero. 0.00. Naught. Niente.
Evidently, this is the unrevised Ivanovich/Petipa choreography. Ideologically this makes sense because Swan Lake was created for the Kirov. Unfortunately, the choreography that most people see nowadays is some stepchild of the Frederick Ashton revision. I can't think of any reason why someone made the decision to go with the old orthodoxy. At best, it's a curiosity. The worst thing about it is the relative aimlessness of the principle male dancer. Again, no excuse for letting sleeping dogs lie - so to speak. Galina Mezentseva (Odette/Odile): 7.5 -
great technique, emotionally lackluster. Nevertheless, she's the only possible reason why you might want this DVD. Konstantin Zaklinsky (Prince Siegfried): 4.5 -
he was probably a pretty good dancer in 1986: good looking, nice long legs;the problem is, he doesn't get to do anything with them (he has one bit in Act III where he gets to do a once-around with grand jettes (they're perfect). That's basically the only moment he's allowed to shine. But he's a decent partner. It was pretty obvious that he was bored. Corps de ballet: 8.0. -
Pretty solid in a late soviet-era sort of way. Lots of technique. Little joy. Orchestra: 3.0 -
The violin soloist in the grand pas de deux in Act II is stunning. Best I've ever heard on this music. Ditto some of the wind soloists. The rest of the orchestra is passable, but it is conducted with a sluggishness that begs the old cliche about how gloomy it was to live in the Soviet Union, and how nobody really cared about his work. This guy is just wretched.
Content - extra features: none Single most annoying thing:
This package contains ZERO information (in English), on the case, the insert, or on the DVD itself, apart from the names of the two principles. No mention is made of what the name of the orchestra is, who conducts, what year the production was made. Some of this information is available in the end-credits, but it's in Russian, so... I gathered from my very humble ability to sound out Russian characters that the Academy Orchestra of the Kirov Opera/Ballet was conducted by Yevgeny something-or-other. There is really no excuse for this DVD with the possible exception of Mezentseva who has great technique but doesn't connect very smoothly with the music.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: Totally Objective and Irrefutable Scores: (scale of 1-10)
DVD Video: 3.0 -
dull transfer of shabby 1986 Soviet Production is blurry, grainy, and shoddily directed. DVD Audio: 2.0 -
has a very annoying tape hiss that can be very distracting during the quieter numbers. Production: Zero. 0.00. Naught. Niente.
Evidently, this is the unrevised Ivanovich/Petipa choreography. Ideologically this makes sense because Swan Lake was created for the Kirov. Unfortunately, the choreography that most people see nowadays is some stepchild of the Frederick Ashton revision. I can't think of any reason why someone made the decision to go with the old orthodoxy. At best, it's a curiosity. The worst thing about it is the relative aimlessness of the principle male dancer. Again, no excuse for letting sleeping dogs lie - so to speak. Galina Mezentseva (Odette/Odile): 7.5 -
great technique, emotionally lackluster. Nevertheless, she's the only possible reason why you might want this DVD. Konstantin Zaklinsky (Prince Siegfried): 4.5 -
he was probably a pretty good dancer in 1986: good looking, nice long legs;the problem is, he doesn't get to do anything with them (he has one bit in Act III where he gets to do a once-around with grand jettes (they're perfect). That's basically the only moment he's allowed to shine. But he's a decent partner. It was pretty obvious that he was bored. Corps de ballet: 8.0. -
Pretty solid in a late soviet-era sort of way. Lots of technique. Little joy. Orchestra: 3.0 -
The violin soloist in the grand pas de deux in Act II is stunning. Best I've ever heard on this music. Ditto some of the wind soloists. The rest of the orchestra is passable, but it is conducted with a sluggishness that begs the old cliche about how gloomy it was to live in the Soviet Union, and how nobody really cared about his work. This guy is just wretched.
Content - extra features: none Single most annoying thing:
This package contains ZERO information (in English), on the case, the insert, or on the DVD itself, apart from the names of the two principles. No mention is made of what the name of the orchestra is, who conducts, what year the production was made. Some of this information is available in the end-credits, but it's in Russian, so... I gathered from my very humble ability to sound out Russian characters that the Academy Orchestra of the Kirov Opera/Ballet was conducted by Yevgeny something-or-other. There is really no excuse for this DVD with the possible exception of Mezentseva who has great technique but doesn't connect very smoothly with the music.
Rating:
Summary: worse than pirated DVDs
Review: What a disappointment! I thought I got a pirated DVD. It's even worse. The camera angle was too high, often cutting the toes/feet of the dancers and leaving a huge empty room above the dancers. The swans dancing/standing on both sides were often partially cut off the screen. I had recorded another Kirov version (laser disk or LD, not a live performance, by different principals) before. It was much better. Too bad it's not available on DVD.
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