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Opera
by
Dmitry Shostakovich
Stage
Director
Irina Molostova
Conductor
Valery Gergiev
Katerina
Larissa
Gogolevskaya
Sergei
Viktor Lutsiuk
Boris
Sergey Alexashkin
Zinovy
Yevgeny Akimov
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London
Coliseum
23 July - 24 July 2006 |
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This
was a stupendous performance
of an opera first performed
in 1963 and better known in
its unmodified version as
'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'
- the latter censored in the
Soviet Union after Stalin
expressed displeasure at it
back in 1936. The Mariinsky
(formerly the 'Kirov') orchestra
is, of course, not only an
opera orchestra - and its
symphonic virtuosity and tonal
palette were gloriously evident
throughout this tale of a
downtrodden merchant's wife
who turns triple murderer
only to be abandoned by the
lover for whom she commits
these crimes.
Valery Gergiev - whose conducting
can be palpably distracted
by his colossal schedule,
embracing artistic director
of the Mariinsky, principal
conductor of the Rotterdam
Philharmonic and principal
guest conductor of the Metropolitan
Opera in New York - was on
top form, a master of mood,
control and unbroken tension
over three hours. You could
distinguish just about every
section of the orchestra all
the time - the violins clearly
differentiated from the violas,
the cellos from the double
bases. The wind playing was
glorious - menacing and ominous
one moment, witty and helter-skelter
the next.
Larissa Gogolevskaya was a
magnificent Katerina, her
voice wild, desperate, erotic,
and pinpoint accurate - and
her capacity to sustain high
notes, while allowing her
sound to unleash itself on
you in all its fullness, quite
extraordinary. Boris, her
violent, hypocritical father-in-law,
was sung by the thrilling
Sergey Alexashkin, a bass
in the grandly sonorous and
commanding Russian tradition,
redolent of Feodor Chaliapin.
Viktor Lutsiuk, as Katerina's
lover Sergey, was able to
sing with both beautiful lyricism
and to evoke the wild expressionism
of Shostakovich's score.
In the intervals I heard mumblings
of disquiet about the production
by Irina Molostova - "old
fashioned", "clumsy",
"banal", and the
like - but to this reviewer
it was the perfect, slightly
understated production to
support the unremitting drama
of the music and to allow
it to be expressed where it
needed to be: in the orchestra
and in the voices.
Finally, the great Mariinsky
chorus is to be congratulated
for some of the most moving,
beautifully phrased and technically
proficient choral singing
I have heard for a long time.
Next time Gergiev brings his
whole company to town, there
should be no empty seats!
Simon May |
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