| | |  | Ballets & Classics | Home » » » SWAN LAKE - YEVTEYEVA; KIROV BALLET, DUDKO | | | | | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| n/a | | Format:
| AC-3, Classical, DVD, Import, NTSC | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| AMADO | | Run Time:
| 45 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| January 23, 2007 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 3 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $3.92 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $3.93 | New | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 3 customer reviews )
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5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 A common man's point of view.Aug 28, 2008
By Richard Rawls
"Richard Ardle Rawls"
This DVD was included in a set of three Tchaikovsky Ballets when I purchased it, but it is available as a single. It is not a really great copy. There is a tear at the top of the screen, which cuts off a face or head or whatever comes into the tear area. Luckily it's not always there so it is not too obtrusive, and one can live with it. So, please don't hesitate to purchase this ballet, the quality isn't terribly bad. It is a 1968 sound stage production w/o an audience, so there is no applause nor the sound of tiny little feet on the floor. It looks like a movie that has been shown all over Russia. The sound quality is good enough, and it is claimed to be in stereo. There are chapter synopses in five or six different languages, including English. It is 83 minutes in length, but should be about 130 minutes to be the complete version. There are a few dances left out of the first and second acts, but the last act seems to be complete. One dance in particular that is left out of scene two of the first act at the lakeside, is the Waltz of the Swans, and the variations by the Three Swans. It is so utterly beautiful that it is a real shame that it was omitted. Also, there are only two National dances in the Ballroom act. Prince Siegfried kills Rothbart, so the final scene is semi-tragic, as its hard to tell if the Swan-Maiden dies or not, but at least the other Swan-Maidens are returned to their human forms so, in a sense, it falls into the happy ending genera of Russian ballet.
The part of the fool or joker is played by Valery Panov, and is undoubtedly the best and most acrobatic male dancer I've seen in my five copies of Swan Lake. Not all versions have a, so called fool, but use, instead, a friend to the Prince. The American Ballet is one example.
Yelena Yevteyeva is a very capable Odette/Odile technically. Her surprise and subsequent fear of Siegfried when they first meet is well done, and her wing fluttering is also very good. Some Ballerinas are better at that than others, but Yelena is exceptionally good. She is not the most beautiful Odette/Odile, but when in the Black Swan outfit she is very attractive. As I said, Yelena is a very capable dancer, and since this ballet is 40 years old we probably won't see Yelena in any other ballets, so historically this ballet is worth owning. Even though the picture quality is not quite as good as some other copies, I watch this one often, because I like the last act. Some of the music is different, and there are two lifts by Siegfried of Odette that are beautiful and not done at all in some other versions. They are so vigorous that it looked like he might have dropped her, she goes so far back over his head. Angel Corella's lifts of Gillian Murphy in the ABT version of Swan Lake are just as dramatic, however.
This ballet can be purchased for close to $10.00 from an Amazon dealer, so you could add it to your collection quite inexpensively. I recommend this ballet.
PS. Imagine my surprise, when I found Yelena again! Yes, I purchased "The Glory of The Kirov" which is a potpourri of dances by ballerinas and danseurs from the archives of the Maryinsky theater and other Russian sources, and there she was. In black and white, but very beautiful. She was featured w/Baryshnikov in a 1969 pas de deux called "The tale of Serf Nekish", and again in a 1968 pas de quatre featuring Yelena as "Fanny Cerreto" and also featuring Gabriela Komleva as "Carlotta Grisi", Lubov Galenskaya as "Marie Taglioni", and Ludmilla Kovaleva as "Lucile Grahn". Unfortunately, I would never have recognised her in black and white except in the "Tale of Serf Nekish" pas de deux. I feel fortunate to have found her again at all. Ivy Lin wrote a nice review about The Glory of the Kirov, but didn't even mention Yelena because the Pas de Quatre, "annoys the crap" out of her. What a shame.
 Good versionFeb 23, 2012
By W. D. Payne
Mr. Rawls pointed me toward this AM@DO version. It is the better 1968 version. The Prologue is included for one thing. In fact this is the Prologue that Black Swan based theirs on. OK, now the skinny. Since this was danced for the camera circa 1968 the production values are not as modern as we have become used to. Let's see, what was I doing in 1968? Hmmm. As mentioned there is a distortion at the top that comes and goes, but is not that distracting.The lighting fluctuates some but probably because like today's movies there are several takes to choose from. Also the sound stage is much wider than the lens so some of the dancers are cut in half at the edges. Color saturation is good for the era. One glaring fault is Siegfried does not show any emotion. In the close ups his face might as well been carved from wood. The Fool at least smiled occasionally. Rothbart on the other hand was able to express a very sinister aspect. I believe his is the most sinister of all the six versions I now own. Odette/Odile was a very agile dancer. I was surprised. The ending is not your typical happy ending. Odette and Siegfried both die. But not before Siegfried kills Rothbart. Yay. Six language selections. Two audio. PCM and DTS 5.1. Believe it or not. And it fills my 16x9 screen. All in all not bad. I paid less than $10.00 including shipping. Good value.
For Your InformationJun 30, 2011
By Mia
This same performance is also sold under a different name Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (1968). Compare the reviews as well as the price.
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