This was a birthday treat for me when I was 18 yrs old,My friends took me to the theatre Royal in Glasgow, I had never been to see a ballet ,I was excited,it was the Royal Ballet who were performing this amazing ballet.

Tchaikovsky certainly knew how to compose this excellent score for his ballet, the story that the ballet told was a beautiful story of love. The costumes and the performances of all the dancers was exhilarating and has stayed with me through my entire life.

Scottish Ballet performed a modern version of this ballet which in my opinion was not as good due to the fact that they did not have all the lovely costumes, however the score for this ballet was played brilliantly by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.

I was so taken by the music that I went out and bought a recording of the ballet music, it was a recording by Ernest Ansermet conducting the Orchestre De la Suisse Romande which to this day I consider to be the best recording of the magnificent score,42 yrs later I still have the album.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky