Swan See

Following the success of their last album, ‘Timelapse’, this new album from Orchestra of the Swan is a collection of extraordinary works connected by ideas of pilgrimage, contemplation, exploration and enlightenment through the works of composers such as Richter, Respighi, Britten, Piazzolla, Brian Eno, Nico Muhly, Joy Division and more.

This is the second instalment in our series devoted to Tchaikovsky’s three great ballets. The first recording, of The Sleeping Beauty, was praised upon its release, described by a reviewer in American Record Guide as ‘one of the finest I’ve heard’. Here Neeme Järvi and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra present the complete version of Swan Lake, with the pre-eminent James Ehnes lending his magic to the violin solos. This was Tchaikovsky’s first full-length ballet, but its premiere in 1877, staged at Moscow’s Bolshoy Theatre, was by no means a resounding success. According to most accounts, the choreography was inept, the shabby sets and costumes were borrowed from other productions, and the orchestral playing was poor. Most ballet companies today base their productions on the 1895 revival by the distinguished choreographer Marius Petipa. Although this revival has been seen as more ‘danceable’, one may argue that the overall cuts and reordering ultimately destroyed Tchaikovsky’s ground plan of drama and tonality. Here we present Tchaikovsky’s original Bolshoy score of twenty-nine numbers across four acts, along with two supplementary numbers which Tchaikovsky provided not long after the premiere.

Electric Swan was born as solo project from Wicked Minds guitarist and founding member, Lucio Calegari. Electric Swan was recorded in January/May 2008 at Mofo studio (Piacenza-Italy) by Marco Gandolfi that produces the work for Bad Chili Records, a young indie label at its third release, distribuited worldwide from Black Widow records. It's a collection of new songs (some instrumental), 2 ten years-old Wicked Minds tracks never recorded before, and 3 covers: Tommy Bolin's "Teaser", Ruth Copeland's "Your Love Been So Good to Me" and Metallica's "Creeping Death".