What is considered the best recording of Swan Lake?
My favorite Swan Lake is the Rozhdestvensky/USSR State RSO recording from 1969. It is entirely complete and the original version of the ballet, which is the best for listening (most of the time the ballet is cut to fit on a recording and many use Riccardo Drigo’s revision of Tchaikovsky’s score [the majority of ballet companies stage this revised version, as well]). The sound quality is not perfect, but the playing is – earth-shattering! One problem, this recording seems to be out of print and hard to find (you could try ebay). I did find it on a Russian site: http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.… Not sure how to order from there… For a perfectly great alternative I second the poster above with Svetlanov on Melodiya: http://www.amazon.com/Tchaik
