Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is one of the most popular of all ballets. Fashioned from Russian folk tales, the ballet tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by the curse of evil sorcerer, Odile, the Black Swan. This album presents Tchaikovsky’s immortal ballet music in a new version by conductor Kristjan Järvi. The chronological order of the pieces has been newly arranged to achieve a dramatic arc of tension. The arrangement also brings some new transitions and some new musical endings. Kristjan Järvi has been the principal conductor of the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra since the 2012 season and of the Gstaad Festival Orchestra since 2010. He is a unique musical personality pushing the classical music borders with new ideas and with his charisma and extraordinary technical prowess, and has been hailed by *The New York Times* as "a kinetic force on the podium, like Leonard Bernstein reborn." Järvi combines his classical music origins and his love for traditional repertoire with a powerful passion for original concert programs, that catapult concert halls and audiences around the world into the 21st century. Järvi has more than 30 albums to his credit, which have received numerous awards, including the Swedish Grammy for Best Opera Performance, the German Record Critics Prize for Best Album, and a Grammy nomination. Every year the Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland) thrills its audience with unique concerts and top-class musical programmes set amidst magnificent Swiss countryside. The Gstaad Festival Orchestra (GFO) grew out of the vision to spread the innovative, inspiring spirit of the Menuhin Festival abroad and to enable this celebrated annual music festival to resonate on an international platform. Since its foundation in 2010, the GFO put its self-imposed challenge into practice and has soared again and again to new musical heights. The Gstaad Festival Orchestra is made up of the best musicians from Switzerland's leading orchestras.
