Search - Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake [HD DVD] on HD DVD

Ballet in the family room

Lawrence P. Jakobi | Palmdale, CA USA | 09/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Great first ballet HDDVD

Dance Geek | 07/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First, the bad. On my HDA2, this disc craps out with an error at 1:05 into the ballet. I'm not sure if this is a player error or a format/DRM/SW error. This is not the only disc/instance that reports of this error has been mentioned. Checkout avsforum for details. I hope a future firmware update would fix this.

Now, the good. Ballet is glorious in HD and the POB is one of the finest companies in the world. I had seen POB live in Paris so I was looking forward to adding this to my collection. POB dancers are not as spectacular as ABT dancers with their acrobatic turns and jumps. But, you can really see the solid technique in everything they do, which sometimes takes your breadth away. In some respects HD reveals too much detail that most live audiences would never see. Ballet technique is top notch but you start to notice the emotionless acting (especially with Jose Martinez). Video editing work could be alot better as camera changes were too often and erratic for my taste. I would rather include alternative closeups as bonus material. The music was wonderful but all stage sound were suppressed. Again, this is my preference for not over producing a live performance."

Unusual coreography

C. Gonzalez Aviles | La Serena, Chile | 12/08/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"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? There is one redeeming aspect to Mr. Nureyev's coreography, though. The geometrical figures depicted by the swans in the later acts, superbly captured by cameras hovering above the stage, are splendid."

Great

S. Bodine | Ohio | 08/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Quality excellent over all but as an earlier review said the camera work could be better."