This is a great little set, coupling a ravishing Apollon musagète with a truly stunning Rite ofSpring. The Petrushka is equally fine. The fact that Stravinsky's revision of Apollon dispensed with 'half the woodwind, two of the three harps, glockenspiel and celesta from the original scoring' hardly constitutes the bleaching process that a less colour-sensitive performance might have allowed. Part of the effect comes from a remarkably fine recording where clarity and tonal bloom are complementary, but Chailly must take the credit for laying all Stravinsky's cards on the table rather than holding this or that detail to his chest.

Natalia Makarova, one of the most important interpreters of the classical ballet repertoire in the twentieth century, has also had great success as a producer. Her staging of Swan Lake is based on the original choreography by Petipa and Ivanov, with additional choreography by the late Sir Frederick Ashton. Evelyn Hart and Peter Schaufuss dance the main roles in this studio recording. Makarova’s innovative interpretation presents the work as a story of perfect and eternal love. The main focus is on Siegfried’s love for Odette, her love for him, his unfaithfulness, for which she ultimately forgives him, and her self-sacrifice in going to her death with him in order to break the power of an evil curse.

Here is yet another major recording of The Nutcracker. Undoubtedly its great success stems a good deal from the superlative Berlin Philharmonic, but if also confirms Semyon Bychkov as a major new presence on the recording scene. He has the singularly important gift of bringing music to life in the recording studio as at a concert, and every bar of this performance is tingling with vitality.

The Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg is one of the most prestigious opera and ballet venues in the world. Built in 1860 and named in honour of Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife of Czar Alexander II, it is home to the famous Mariinsky Ballet as well as numerous international stars and ensembles. After the turn of the millennium it was painstakingly restored; and since 2013, St. Petersburg's Theatre Square has been crowned with the "Mariinsky II" an imposing new arts and performance venue. At its inauguration on May 2, 2013, the highly gifted conductor Valery Gergiev led a veritable who's who of the classical music world.

Léo Delibes was 30 years old when he achieved his critical breakthrough in France’s musical metropolis and created his classic Coppélia. The scenery for this fairy-tale piece was designed by Charles Nuitter, and the story was taken from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann (The Sandman). In 1994 the Opéra National de Lyon performed Léo Delibes’s ballet Coppélia under the choreography of Maguy Marin. This special video production by legend Thomas Grimm was fi lmed on location in Lyon and in the studio. Star conductor Kent Nagano directs the orchestra of the Lyon National Opera.

John Cranko’s mastery of the art of the pas de deux finds its climax in Onegin, one of the most successful full length ballets of the 20th century. Set to sweeping music by Tchaikovsky, it tells Alexander Pushkin’s tragic love story of the world-weary aristocrat Onegin and the naïve country girl Tatiana in a superbly nuanced way. Featuring world stars Friedemann Vogel and Alicia Amatriain, this production is a must for all lovers of dramatic – and romantic – ballets. With Onegin, John Cranko secured his place in the pantheon of great 20th century choreographers. He created the three act work for the Stuttgart Ballet – of which he was Director – in 1965 and revised the ballet two years later.

The Dutch National Ballet take centre stage in this production of Minkus's opera recorded live at the Amsterdam Music Theatre in 2010. Former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky, has added his own choreography, while still retaining the flavour of Marius Pepita's 1869 original version. Performers include Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Peter de Jong and Karel de Rooij.

Marius Petipa’s exotic ballet, set in legendary India, is a story of love, death and vengeful judgement. Natalia Makarova’s sumptuous recreation of Petipa’s choreography, with atmospheric sets by Pier Luigi Samaritini and beautiful costumes by Yolanda Sonnabend, stars Tamara Rojo as the Bayadère (temple dancer) Nikiya, Carlos Acosta as Solor, and Marianela Nuñez as Gamzatti whose alluring presence challenges Solor’s love for Nikiya.

Paris Opera Ballet’s production of La Bayadère was recorded in May 1994 at the Palais Garnier in High Definition. This exceptional and critically acclaimed production of La Bayadère is the fully restored version of this classic Kirov ballet, the last work choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet by Rudolf Nureyev before his tragic death in 1993.