Produkt
The Sleeping Beauty is the greatest of Tchaikovsky's three ballets, containing all of the composer's stylistic hallmarks: exquisite melodies, colorful orchestration, rhythm, drama, and passion, along with an uncanny ability to build powerful climaxes. It's not surprising that few recorded performances have exploited all of these elements successfully.
Pletnev hits the ground running. The unsettling music of the wicked fairy Carabosse is rendered in sharp orchestral jabs, evoking her threatening needles. The rest of the prologue is played with bright colors and light textures, which works fine until we encounter the darker music of Act 1. The "Rose" adagio lacks the ardour of Dorati and Gergiev, the finger pricking sequence does not terrify as it should, and the brass in the climax of the Lilac Fairy's sleeping spell are restrained. Listen to Dorati in these and other moments throughout the work and your jaw will drop at the playing of the Concertgebouw. Pletnev seems unwilling to let the sparks fly as he did in his blazing performance of his own piano arrangement (of excerpts).
Act 2 sounds similarly uninvolved, especially next to Gergiev’s brooding or Dorati's impulsiveness. (Pletnev's harp, violin, and cello soloists do deserve recognition for their fine work, however.) And yet, just when I had resigned myself to another tepid hour of listening, everything suddenly changed. The prince’s discovery of Aurora (Entr'acte Symphonique) at the end of Act 2 finds Pletnev conducting with the imagination that eluded him earlier. It's as if he were waking up along with the Sleeping Beauty. Act 3 is even better. The orchestra clearly delights in the character dances and Pletnev similarly displays his love for and mastery of the score. Those looking for a Sleeping Beauty in the most up-to-date sound will, on balance, likely be satisfied with Pletnev and his Russian National Orchestra (which does not sound the least bit Russian, by the way). It fits onto two discs, and the recording is vivid. Gergiev’s Kirov Orchestra provides a far more Russian sounding performance but in rather opaque sound. Dorati and the Concertgebouw play the piece as if it were written for them, and their recording ... remains the prime recommendation.
(Victor Carr Jr. ; classicstoday.com)