Complete
This release appeared on the short-lived, internationally distributed JVC classical label in 1996. Recorded in 1994, it features legendary Russian conductor Victor Fedotov leading the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra in a complete performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. This recording is also a little different from the norm, as Fedotov conducts the score specific to the Mariinsky, a major overhaul of the 1877 original by composer Riccardo Drigo at the request of Marius Petipa. Petipa devised the choreography that is most commonly utilized for the work and whose production of Swan Lake was the first to be embraced by the public at large. The 1877 score is far more common, and this is quite possibly the only recording of the Drigo score, despite claims from others identifying their products as so endowed. Fedotov was a conductor extremely well versed in Swan Lake, and his version with the Kirov Ballet on DVD is often cited as the best video of Swan Lake before us; this recording -- as was the case with many JVC CD releases -- was likely sourced from video audio as well. If so, it doesn't show, apart from a little bit of sonic thinness. Musically, though, Fedotov's interpretation of the work is just about perfect, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra has had this work in its bloodstream for over a century. This set has been out of print for some time, but if you'd like a very well-done Swan Lake, particularly that in the Drigo rescoring that is much lighter on its feet than in the standard version, then this is the ticket. This performance was re-released on the Russian Classical Records label in about 2006.