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Swan Lake, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

Swan Lake, Mariinsky Ballet, Royal Opera House

A subdued start to the Mariinsky's 50th anniversary season

by Tuesday, 26 July 2011
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Uliana Lopatkina in the Mariinsky's 'Swan Lake'All photos: Natasha Razina

Act IV is the core of Swan Lake. It doesn’t seem so theatrically, being a peculiar 20-minute bolt-on after an interval that frequently lasts longer than the act that follows. But musically it transcends everything that has gone before, its thready little waltz one of the most delicately tragic things Tchaikovsky ever wrote. And balletically, Lev Ivanov’s rigidly structured classicism draws viewers into the terrifying void that is death. While emotionally the frozen swan-maiden of Act II and the brazen strumpet of Act III here merge to create the incarnation of suffering woman.

Act IV is the core of Swan Lake. It doesn’t seem so theatrically, being a peculiar 20-minute bolt-on after an interval that frequently lasts longer than the act that follows. But musically it transcends everything that has gone before, its thready little waltz one of the most delicately tragic things Tchaikovsky ever wrote. And balletically, Lev Ivanov’s rigidly structured classicism draws viewers into the terrifying void that is death. While emotionally the frozen swan-maiden of Act II and the brazen strumpet of Act III here merge to create the incarnation of suffering woman.

Comments

Submitted by Waldteufel (not verified) on Tue, 26/07/2011 - 12:17
I'ver commented before to your ballet critic that Tchaikovsky did not compose a waltz for the last act of Swan Lake - the one the Maryinsky perform is an interpolation of a dreadful un-Tchaikovskian orchestration by Drigo of one the charming smaller movements from the op.72 piano pieces. There are several recordings of what Tchaikovsky actually wrote which reveal this brief act to be a musical masterpiece. Matthew Bourne's version sticks exactly to what Tchaikovsky wrote. Perhaps that is why his last act is so powerful.

Submitted by David N (not verified) on Tue, 26/07/2011 - 12:25
Yes, Waldteufel, we have indeed been here before. And in preparing the notes for the Gergiev Prom of what purports to be the complete Swan Lake score in concert, I discover to my horror he'll be sticking to this butchery, along with cuts of about a third of the music elsewhere, as performed by the Maryinsky shortly after the composer's death. Act IV as Tchaikovsky wrote it is his first through-composed ballet act, good enough for Jurowski to want to perform it with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Submitted by waldteufel (not verified) on Tue, 26/07/2011 - 14:11
I do hope, David, that you are allowed to refer to the butchery in your programme notes.

Submitted by David N (not verified) on Tue, 26/07/2011 - 15:15
Not as 'butchery', Waldteufel, but I think a more tactful explanation, with the history of this 'tradition' in a box, will make it clear where I stand. And as I requested to do a number-by-number job, I make it clear at every point what's happened, what's been added and what's missing. Of course we also have the Gergiev recording of the Drigo version to compare alongside the full score to be absolutely sure.

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