| Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1993) |
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| Track List | |||||
| 79:13 | |||||
| 01 | Act I: Scene 1: "Ahk, ne spitsya bol'se, poprobuyu" | 05:43 | |||
| 02 | Act I: Scene 1: "Gribki segodnya budut?" | 05:23 | |||
| 03 | Act I: Scene 1: "Gvori" "Zacem ze ti uyezzayes', khozyain" "Vot, papa, posmotri" "Proscay, Katerina" "Katerina, poklyanis' na svyatoy ikone" "Cego vstal?" | 07:09 | |||
| 04 | Act I: Scene 1: Interlude | 03:00 | |||
| 05 | Act I: Scene 2: "Ay! Ay! Ay!" "Otpustite babu" | 02:33 | |||
| 06 | Act I: Scene 2: "Mnogo vi, muziki, o sebe vozmectali" "Cto eto?" | 06:31 | |||
| 07 | Act I: Scene 2: Interlude | 01:54 | |||
| 08 | Act I: Scene 3: "Spat' poro. Den' prosol" | 03:27 | |||
| 09 | Act I: Scene 3: "Zerebyonok k kobilke toropitsya" | 05:32 | |||
| 10 | Act I: Scene 3: "Kto eto, kto, kto stucit?" "Proscay" "Uydi ti, radi boga, ya muznyaya zena" | 08:51 | |||
| 11 | Act II: Scene 4: "Cto znacit starost': Ne spitsya" | 05:44 | |||
| 12 | Act II: Scene 4: "Proscay, Katya, proscay!" "Stoy! Gde bil?" "Smotri, Katerina, zanyatnoye zrelisce" | 04:17 | |||
| 13 | Act II: Scene 4: "Ustal" "Prikazete mne postegat'?" "Progolodalsya ya" | 06:01 | |||
| 14 | Act II: Scene 4: "Vidno, skoro uz zarya. Ekh!" "Gde tut umirayut?" "Batya, ispovedat' sya" "Akh, Boris Timofeyevic" | 06:29 | |||
| 15 | Act II: Scene 4: Interlude | 06:39 | |||
| 76:19 | |||||
| 01 | Act II: Scene 5: "Sergey, Seryoza! Vsyo spit" | 05:47 | |||
| 02 | Act II: Scene 5: "Opyat' usnul" "Katerina L'vovna, ubiyca!" "Nu? Cego tebe?" - Andante | 05:17 | |||
| 03 | Act II: Scene 5: "Slusay, Sergey, Sergey!" "Katerina!" - "Kto tam?" "Teper' sabas" | 07:45 | |||
| 04 | Act III: Scene 6: "Cto ti tut stois'?" "U menya bila kuma" - Interlude | 06:33 | |||
| 05 | Act III: Scene 7: "Sozdan policeyskiy bil vo vremya ono" "U Izmaylovoy seycas pir goroy" "Vase blagorodiye!" "Skoro, skoro, ctobi ne bilo ukora" | 06:27 | |||
| 06 | Act III: Scene 7: Interlude | 02:28 | |||
| 07 | Act III: Scene 8: "Slava suprugam, Katerine L'vovne i Sergeyu Filippicu, slava!" "Nikogo net krase solnca v nebe?" "Cto takoye?" | 09:12 | |||
| 08 | Act IV: Scene 9: "Vyorsti, odna za drugoy dlinnoy polzut verenicey" | 06:09 | |||
| 09 | Act IV: Scene 9: "Stephanic! Propusti menya" | 02:49 | |||
| 10 | Act IV: Scene 9: "Ne legko posle pocota da poklonov pered sudom stoyat!" | 04:25 | |||
| 11 | Act IV: Scene 9: "Moyo pocten' ye!" "Dostanu! Katya!" "Is', zver'!" - Adagio | 07:12 | |||
| 12 | Act IV: Scene 9: ""V lesu, v samoy casce, yest' ozero" "Znayes li, Sonetka, na kogo s toboy mi pokhozi?" | 06:21 | |||
| 13 | Act IV: Scene 9: "Vstavay! Po mestam! Zivo!" | 05:54 | |||
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| Notes |
| Boris Izmailov: Aage Haugland
Zinovi Izmailov: Philip Langridge Katerina Izmailova: Maria Ewing Sergei: Sergei Larin Aksinya: Kristine Ciesinski Shabby Peasant: Heinz Zednik Steward: Jean-Pierre Mazaloubaud Porter: Guillaume Petitot First Foreman: Jean-Claude Costa Second Foreman: Jean Savignol Third Foreman: Jose Ochagivia Millhand: Grigory Gritziuk Coachman: Alan Woodrow Priest: Romuald Tesarowicz Police Sergeant: Anatoly Kotcherga Policeman: Philippe Duminy Teacher: Elya Levinsky Drunken Guest: Mario Agnetti Officer: Carlos Alvarez Sentry: Johann Tilli Sonyetka: Elena Zaremba Old Convict: Kurt Moll Woman Convict: Margaret Jane Wray Notes, illustrations, musical examples, transliterated text and translation Essay: "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk: an Introduction" by David Fanning Gramophone review: "The main flaws in Rostropovich's historic recording of this opera with Galina Vishnevskaya in the title-role (and by 'historic' I don't mean 'old' but that soprano and conductor, both close friends of the composer, were obviously fired by the importance of recording the work in its unexpurgated form for the first time, and communicated that fire to their colleagues) are its very close focus on the solo voices and the at times distracting use of dramatizing effects: even when the chorus aren't singing they can often be heard muttering. Both are corrected in this new account, which has a very natural balance between voices and orchestra, and allows a cast of pungent singer-actors to do their own dramatizing. Rostropovich's version, for all that this is an opera that stands or falls by the performance of the principal soprano, is luxuriously cast, from Nicolai Gedda as Katerina's lover Sergey down to Aage Haugland (the new set's Boris) as the Sergeant. Although some of the names in the new cast are perhaps less familiar, they are no less distinguished: Larin is less characterful than Gedda but a real Russian tenor with impressive line and care for words, Haugland is a formidable bully of a Boris, Tesarowicz and Kotcherga are vivid in their roles, Zaremba a Carmen-like bitch of a Sonyetka while Kurt Moll as the Old Convict contributes much more than a cameo: he adds a whole tragic dimension to Act 3 that Alexander Malta, for Rostropovich, cannot really approach. "I would love to have seen Maria Ewing's Katerina in the theatre; in fact, having now heard her minutely detailed acting in this recording I almost feel that I have seen her. Her voice is nowhere near as commanding as Vishnevskaya's, and the recorded focus emphasizes this. There are times when you can hardly hear her above the orchestra; others indeed where you certainly cannot, and she is an unequal partner in the duet scenes with Larin and Haugland. This goes with such an intensely dramatic utterance, swooping up to and away from notes, that her singing and her parlando (her Sprechstimme, indeed) are sometimes hard to distinguish. The crucial test of her style of interpretation is the tragic 'aria' in Act 3 where Katerina realizes the worthlessness of the man for whom she has murdered and suffered both humiliation and a destruction of all hope. Ewing is graphically expressive, every word placed in poignant relief, but at times you have to guess at what notes she's sketching and the whole passage is taken at about half its marked speed. Time standing still at such a moment is effective and not inappropriate, but you only have to turn to Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich to realize than the passage can be lyrically sung and given a sense of forward movement without any loss of pathos; rather the reverse, indeed. "Chung is a first-rate Shostakovich conductor, and he gets a warmer, fuller sound from his spaciously recorded Paris players than the no doubt intentionally leaner quality that Rostropovich asks of the LPO. Oddly enough the extra brass players that the score calls for make more impact in the slightly drier older recording, and there are sufficient pages on which Rostropovich finds a touch more hysterical energy or lurid colour for me to prefer his account even if Ewing had been a closer match for the imperious but for that very reason more moving Vishnevskaya. Katerina is the Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and her fall, which begins with her descent to the vulgar Sergey, is great. Ewing is a slighter character: fascinating but not tragic." |