Dmitry Yablonsky’s new Swan Lake recording represents one of the few instances in which Naxos breaks its general policy of non-duplicating repertoire. Yet there’s significant justification in this case, as Yablonsky’s interpretation is very different from Ondrej Lenard’s straightforwardly balletic (and very exciting) rendition. By contrast Yablonsky finesses the music more and employs a wider range of tempos (even within movements), sometimes to the point of mannerism, as in the third of Act 3’s Pas de Six, where he starts extremely slow, then actually doubles the pace for the second half. Nevertheless Yablonsky is highly attuned to the music’s drama and pathos, and he plays individual scenes for maximum effect (he really milks the “swan” theme on its every appearance).
The Russian State Symphony provides highly idiomatic playing, although the strings sound somewhat anemic compared to the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony, which is strange when you remember the fierce string sound on so many of those old Melodiya recordings of Russian orchestras. No such complaint for the brass, however–they blare away in the familiar and glorious Russian tradition.
To his credit, Yablonsky employs mostly judicious editing of Tchaikovsky’s many repeats (as did Slatkin on his excellent St. Louis Symphony recording), tightening up the flow of the music and making the score more suitable for non-theatrical settings. He thankfully also includes the usually excised Act 3 Russian Dance and Pas de Deux, among the more delightful if out-of-context numbers in the ballet. Naxos’ sound is brighter and clearer on this new recording, though the older release boasts a satisfyingly full-bodied hall acoustic. So, with two fine Swan Lake offerings in the Naxos catalog, Yablonsky’s takes pride of place, but only slightly so.
