Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20 - CD

By 1958, Decca has been recording in stereo for four years, regularly sending out two production teams, one to make the stereo master, the other the mono master. Each team of producer and engineer worked independently of the other to produce the optimum sound for their system. In 1958, to launch their new stereo series (with an SXL prefix for the catalogue number) it was decided that a new and spectacular recording was required for the very first record (SXL 2001). Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, a popular orchestral showpiece that could show off the stereo imagery, was a natural choice. The cannon shots made a particularly strong impression at the time; the well-kept secret at the time is that they were, in fact, over-dubbed, speeded-down gun shots! As the Gramophone reviewer in October 1958 pointed out, ‘In every respect, in fact, this is a first-class record’.

Kenneth Alwyn was a principal conductor of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden where he shared the rostrum with such luminaries working with the company at that time as Malcolm Sargent, Ernest Ansermet, Arthur Bliss, William Walton, Hans Werner Henze and Benjamin Britten the latter nominated him as conductor of the original production of The Prince of the Pagodas. In the notes for this CD – to which his 1959 recording of a suite from Swan Lake has been added to the items on the original record – he recounts his experience at the recording sessions for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which, issued in 1958, was to become the first stereo recording of this work and Decca’s first official stereo recording.

Choreographers: Lev Ivanov & Marius Petipa

The Ballet Edition is a series of 2 CD sets drawn from the catalogues of EMI Classics, presenting the best-loved and most popular ballets, performed by the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

Frequently heard and recorded as an abbreviated orchestral suite, this rare recording is one of very few available featuring the complete score of this glittering ballet.

The album boasts world-class artistry from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Nicolae Moldoveanu and solo violinst Clio Gould. Clio Gould is the Orchestra’s leader and an acclaimed soloist in her own right, performing as a soloist, director and leader throughout Britain and Europe, whilst Nicolae Moldoveanu’s work as a conductor has taken him to the top orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe and North America.

This double CD was recorded at the Cadogan Hall, London, a wonderful venue with exceptional facilities and acoustics.

This CD release has the potential of becoming a new reference recording: it features star conductor Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra with the complete Swan Lake by Peter Tchaikovsky – an absolute masterpiece of Russian orchestral music.

Swan Lake has come to be regarded as the very quintessence of Russian ballet, and its music benefits from an unchanged popularity worldwide and among a wide range of audiences.

The CD release marks the 20th anniversary of the Russian National Orchestra; since being founded by Mikhail Pletnev in 1990, the RNO has quickly reached a position at the top of Russian orchestras, as well as among the top ten of international orchestras (as listed by Gramophone).

This is Mikhail Pletnev’s and the RNO’s debut on Ondine.

This recording has the great advantage of being of the 1895 performing version, i.e. the ballet as it is most usually performed today - all other recordings are of Tchaikovsky's original score, which places, for example, the black act pas de deux in the first act, instead of the third. Victor Fedotov was for many years chief ballet conductor at the Maryinsky (Kirov) Theatre, and he and the theatre orchestra give an outstanding performance.