Swan Lake - Scherzer/Matz/Barenboim

Let me start with a confession. I do not know of any work of art greater than Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The searing beauty of its melodies, its large scale structure, its theme of seeking perfection, and of human weakness in striving to achieve it, mark it out in every sense as a work of gigantic genius. The 2nd and 4th acts represent an outpouring of dramatic music which is not excelled anywhere and still sends shivers down the spine at the five hundredth hearing. The problem is in finding a production which matches the insight and power of the music.
While ballet, above all Russian ballet, is my favourite art form I must confess that this is one ballet where I do not find Russian productions the most interesting - at least the ones I have seen. As Russian choreography and production is usually the best in the world the problem evidently lies not in ability but in basic conception. Both the Kirov/Mariinsky and the Bolshoi treat Swan Lake as a love story with a happy ending. But the music outlines something far deeper - and the fact that identical music can support both happy and tragic endings in different performances shows its deep ambiguity.
Matthew Bourne famously cut through various Gordian knots with his all male Swan Lake - inspired by Tchaikovsky's own homosexuality. This is an entirely valid interpretation, and a major addition to the repertoire, but imposes a libretto that is definitely not Tchaikovsky's one and also inherently cannot develop the different features of male and female dancers.
Rudolf Nureyev adopted a different solution in his production by adopting a tragic ending. This brought out the deeper currents in the work. The problem is that on DVD his usual partner, Fonteyn, is simply not up to the expressive standards of the greatest Russian, and other, ballerinas.
A superb production however is that of the Deutsche Staatsoper, with the advantage of a first rate conductor in Daniel Barenboim, a truly superb male lead in Oliver Matz, and a striking female one in Steffi Scherzer. But it is the production, explicitly Freudian, which truly outstanding. It shows prince Siegfried's moods, and striving for perfection, in his relation with his mother - adapting the libretto Tchaikovsky worked to but to a lesser degree than Bourne. It makes sense of the deep undercurrents of the music and drama. The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2008 ridiculously downgrades the production on DVD on the grounds that Matz assumes an attitude of 'despondency' - yes he does as an unattainable longing for perfection is central to the role. This is one of the truly great ballet productions.