La Naissance d'Osiris (Osiris birth) was performed in 1754 at the birth of Louis XVI in Fontainebleau. Rameau composed the one-act ballet based on a libretto by Louis de Cahusac, who has already provided the libretto for numerous other works by Rameau (Zoroastre, Anacréon, Les Fêtes de l'hymen et de l'Amour …). The piece depicts the birth of the goddess Osiris and symbolizes the birth of the grandson of Louis XV.

The pairing of Igor Stravinsky's ballets Petrushka (1911) and Jeu de cartes (1937) may afford insights into his development of neoclassical style, which was anticipated in the former work and stated fully in the latter. Indeed, the bright and tuneful music of both ballets tends toward playfulness, clever parody, and colorful scoring, all characteristic of neoclassicism, and the scenarios – a marionette that comes to life in Petrushka, and the personification of playing cards in Jeu de cartes – suggest a further connection, perhaps even to Stravinsky's notions of musical objectivity.

Les Noces is a screaming, shrieking, flat-out masterpiece. Leonard Bernstein himself has referred to it as Stravinsky's greatest work, and listening to this incendiary performance, it's awfully hard to disagree. Scored for voices, four pianos, and percussion, the work provided the inspiration for the entire career of Orff (of Carmina Burana fame), but it's so much better as sheer music than anything Orff wrote. And what a cast! The pianists for this performance include Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman, Cyprien Katsaris, and Homero Francesch, four certified virtuoso performers, while the singers of the English Bach Festival Chorus really cover themselves with glory in both works. A stunner.

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.

Léo Delibess Coppélia is not only a collection of fine dances. It is primarily an abrasive and sardonic comedy, which is somewhat unusual in the world of classical ballet. But most importantly, it is a comedy for which excellent music was composed. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys assessment of Delibess ballet scores, allegedly capable of overshadowing the choreography itself, is well known: What beauty, what elegance, what richness of melody, rhythm and harmony! It is not fortuitous that music from this ballet should be performed, for its own merits, during concerts. Funnily enough, the main theme of this light-hearted ballet is taken from E.T.A. Hoffmanns anything but joyful novellas mainly from The Sandman.

The Royal Ballet celebrates the centenary of Leonard Bernsteins birth with this all-Bernstein collection. The Companys three associate choreographers respond to the varied styles of Bernsteins music in ballets that are lyrical, beautiful, exuberant and moving. Wayne McGregors Yugen is set to Chichester Psalms. In The Age of Anxiety Liam Scarlett responds to Bernsteins eclectic Second Symphony, itself a response to W.H. Auden's poem. Corybantic Games by Christopher Wheeldon responds to the Serenade after Platos Symposium.

Swan Lake has a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory. This new production by Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett features additional choreography whilst remaining faithful to Petipa and Ivanov’s classic. John Macfarlane’s opulent designs provide an atmospheric, period setting for this enthralling love story, illuminated by Tchaikovsky’s sublime score. Marianela Nuñez brings both poignancy and glitter to the dual role of Odette / Odile, with Vadim Muntagirov as the yearning Prince Siegfried, while the corps de ballet are showcased at their spellbinding best as the enchanted swans and cygnets.

Marius Petipa's 'The Sleeping Beauty' is one of the best loved of classical ballets, combining in a single work all the enchantment and virtuosity that ballet has to offer. The royal court, the panoramic journey of the Prince to the overgrown castle, and the great celebratory dances of the happy ending (in which other famous fairytale figures appear) are all brought to life by the luscious designs of this celebrated production, created in 1946 for The Royal Ballet. The inspired performances of its revival for the 75th anniversary of the Company in 2006, together with a magnificent High Definition recording, make this a superb tribute to The Royal Ballet's unique style and visual splendour.

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.