Three of the most outstanding waltzes from Tchaikovsky's ballet masterpiece have been thoughtfully arranged as a 15-minute dance suite by Carl Simpson, who also prepared the new critical edition of the complete ballet. The final waltz is the most familar, but the two others offer quite different perspectives on the familar dance form from the Russian master.

Newly edited and engraved study score for the original 1877 version of Tchaikovsky's first ballet masterpiece. Includes Preface, Synopsis, and Cast of Characters. This is the complete orchestral score, not a piano reduction, based upon the composer's autograph, the first edition issued by P. Jurgenson, and the score from Tchaikovsky's complete works. Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky's first venture into ballet, was only moderately successful in its first production at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. Choreographer Julius Reissinger's dances were not well received, and those of his successor Joseph Peter Hansen fared no better. The ballet was propelled into the permanent repertoire only after a brilliant revival mounted by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov in St. Petersburg more than a year after Tchaikovsky's death from cholera. A new, reasonably priced study score that will be invaluable to students, conductors, music lovers and ballet aficionados everywhere.

Inspired by Canto V of the "Inferno" of Dante's "Divine Comedy," Tchaikovsky initially planned to create an opera on the subject but abandoned the idea in favor the present 24-minute fantasia for orchestra in 1876. Bearing all the hallmarks of the composer's late romantic style, "Francesca da Rimini" takes full advantage of the powerful orchestral forces employed. The first performance was given on March 9, 1877 in Moscow, with the RMS Orchestra conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein. This is a new, digitally enhanced reissue of the score originally published around 1900 in Leipzig by Ernst Eulenburg.