BaL 16.06.18 - Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30
Building a Library: Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District reviewed by Marina Frolova-Walker.

Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is one of the operatic masterpieces of the twentieth century and was highly praised at its 1934 premiere. Stalin, however, found the opera highly objectional, when he saw it in 1936, and subsequently banned it. In four acts, the opera is based on the startling novella of the same name by the idiosyncratic Russian novelist and short-story writer Nikolai Leskov. Although it departs slightly from its original literary context, it tells the tragic tale of Katerina, a bored and lonely heroine who falls in love with one of her husband's workers, the manipulative Sergey. Their treachery leads to a gruesome series of murders and ultimately to her own devastating end. In grappling with the subordinate role expected of women in 19th century society, adultery and pre-meditated murder, there are echoes in both Leskov and Shostakovich of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth.


Available versions:-


Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, Vladimir Vaneev, Vsevolod Grivnov, Sergej Kunaev, Nanà Miriani, Natascha Petrinsky, Orchestra and Chorus of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, James Conlon (DVD/Blu-ray)

Maria Ewing, Aage Haugland, Sergei Larin, Philip Langridge, Elena Zaremba, Kurt Moll, Orchestre et choeurs de l’Opera Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung

Eva-Maria Westbroek, Christopher Ventris, Carole Wilson, Vladimir Vaneev, Lani Poulson, Ludovít Ludha, Alexandre Kravets, Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (DVD/Blu-ray)

Eijiro Kai, Wolfram Igor Derntl, Franz Gruber, Jens Musger, Kurt Rydl, Nadia Krasteva, Dan Paul Dumitrescu, Marian Talaba, Angela Denoke, Sophie Marilley, Misha Didyk, Donna Ellen, Michael Roider, Hans Peter Kammerer, Markus Pelz, Gerhard Reiterer, Oleg Zalytskiy, Martin Muller, Thomas Kober, Janusz Monarcha, Wiener Staatsoper, Ingo Metzmacher

Galina Vishnevskaya, Nicolai Gedda, Dimiter Petkov, Werner Krenn, Robert Tear, Taru Valjakka, Birgit Finnilä, London Philharmonic Orchestra & Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Mstislav Rostropovich

[Bryn]

Hmm, I have a bit of an allergy to the truncated (and thereby geographically inaccurate) title. Though it serves as its administrative centre, Mtsensk is not actually within the Mtsensk District, and it is the latter that the opera's full title concerns itself with.

I wonder if they will also consider the somewhat tame revision of the opera, Katerina Ismailova?

[visualnickmos]

Looks interesting - Vishnevskaya, and her husband et al - surely a winner! Whatever the final 'result'.....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Hmm, I have a bit of an allergy to the truncated (and thereby geographically inaccurate) title. Though it serves as its administrative centre, Mtsensk is not actually within the Mtsensk District, and it is the latter that the opera's full title concerns itself with.

I wondered about this, when quoting from the BBC webpage.

I'll deal with it.

[richardfinegold]

EA-is that the shortest list that you’ve ever had to type?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA-is that the shortest list that you’ve ever had to type?

I think the Rogers and Hammerstein lists were shorter.

[Bryn]

If Katerina Izmailova is to be considered along with the original, the 1964 recording conducted by Provatorov has been re-issued on Melodiya MEL CD 10 02050. It also on QOBUZ and probably other download sites.

[verismissimo]

If Katerina Izmailova is to be considered along with the original, the 1964 recording conducted by Provatorov has been re-issued on Melodiya MEL CD 10 02050. It also on QOBUZ and probably other download sites.

I've had for several decades an undated short-measure highlights LP from that Provatorov Katerina Ismailova. It's with the Stanislavsky/Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre company from Moscow. Well performed and recorded.

The only time I saw LMotMD in the flesh was at the Adelaide Festival on 3 March 1984 with Beverley Bergen as Katerina, Robert Bickerstaff as Boris, Gregory Dempsey as Zinovy …

[Richard Tarleton]

So no Kirov version? They brought it to the Barbican in 1999 as part of the Barbican's Romance and Revolution season, and very good it was. But I don't own a recording - might be tempted by a DVD. There was a good -? ROH? - performance on TV a while back.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't own a recording - might be tempted by a DVD. There was a good -? RFH? - performance on TV a while back.

I remember the ENO production from 1984-ish which was televised. The only production I've seen Live - tremendous stuff.

[Richard Tarleton]

I remember the ENO production from 1984-ish which was televised. The only production I've seen Live - tremendous stuff.

Typo, I meant ROH - was it this, from 2004? http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/la...-richard-jones.

[Bryn]

Typo, I meant ROH - was it this, from 2004? http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/la...-richard-jones.

This year's return of that production is still on the iPlayer three more days:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b39shc

[Richard Tarleton]

This year's return of that production is still on the iPlayer three more days:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b39shc

Ah, thanks, I haven't been paying attention.

[mikealdren]

Another excellent survey from Marina, I don't have a recording so I now need to decide CD, DVD or both.....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another excellent survey from Marina

... and I share her reservations about Vishnevskaya's portrayal (I've never yet been able to play that recording all the way through in one day because of the "sameness" of her singing). As my Russian is non-existent, I'd go for a singer who gets the notes accurately, even if at the expense of an authentic Russian accent, and it's the Maria Ewing of those we heard today that I'd go for if ever I wanted to get an additional recording of this work.