Following Nicolas Krusek's comment regarding
his find of the 1954 Samossoud recording of The Enchantress, I also found
this, on Ebay, a great source of rare music. The CDs were posted to me in
the UK from Russia. I also secured from ebay the four LP 1977 recording of
the complete opera, with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted
by Provotorov. The LP set contains full text with English translations. There
is a lot of stunning music in this opera, which impresses even if you don't
know anything about the story. The 1954 recording is astonishing for the date,
except to say towards the end the quality does seem to fall off for some reason.
Ive no access to an old record player at the moment so can't report on the
LP recording yet, but will review when this changes.
Norman Armstrong
The Enchantress does indeed have some striking attributes but from what
I can recall it's all in the first act which is very appealing and attractive
indeed, being as it is imbyed with the Russian folk element which Tchaikovsky
turned to his advantage on many occasions. But the following acts simply do
not measure up. Had Tchaikovsky been able to sustain his inspiration on to
the end we might indeed have had a masterpiece and it could well have entered
the ranks of the repertorie. Nor was the rest of the libretto able to stir
up the composer's muse. Another
Onegin was simply not forthcoming.
Albert Gasparo
In addition to the 1954 Samosud recording of The Enchantress, I also recently
acquired (through Amazon) the 1946 recording of The Maid of Orleans conducted
by Boris Khaikin (with Sofya Preobrazhenskaya as Joan), recently released
on Myto Historical Line. Both operas contain much splendid music, including
effective crowd scenes (especially Act 1 of The Enchantress) and some gorgeous
love duets. I agree that Tchaikovsky's level of inspiration is not consistently
maintained in the final scene of both operas, but this is largely due to dramatic
weaknesses in the libretti.
The performances under Khaikin and Samosud are very good and thoroughly
idiomatic, although the recordings occasionally show their age (what do you
expect for 1946 or 1954?) On a positive note, I find the singers very easy
to understand, even with my limited knowledge of Russian.
Unfortunately there is no libretto included for The Enchantress, although The Maid of Orleans has a complete
English libretto. I also find it strange that neither booklet includes timings
for individual CD tracks. However, these are minor complaints, and I wholeheartedly
applaud Myto Historical Line and Preiser Records for the great service they
have done us by releasing these two rare operas on CD.
Nicolas Krusek
Vancouver, Canada
Despite the lack of newer commercial recordings of The Enchantress and The Maid of Orleans on CDs,
there are still non-commercial live recordings of both works from independent
organizations such as “House of Opera”. Some of these recordings have the
quality of professional recordings and cost around $7 to $10. Among the operas
recorded, I have found two recordings of The Enchantress and one of The Maid of Orleans. The details
are listed below:
-
The Enchantress: Amsterdam
1/18/1992 conducted by Gergiev with Alexeiv, Schemtchuk, Cyrianova, and
Grigorian.
-
The Enchantress: London
2/28/1998 conducted by Gergiev with Gorchakova, Kiadkova, Putilin, Grigorian,
Matorin, and Riadchikova.
-
The Maid of Orleans: Turin
2002 conducted by Ranzani with Freni, Oslen, Orciani, Guarnera, and Caruso.
The website is www.operapassion.com
For a list of available recordings of all Tchaikovsky operas, both commercial
and non-commercial, you can visit the site (http: //operadis.info/clortcha.htm)
by Brian Capon, which has a compilation not only for Tchaikovsky, but for
other composers as well.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for recording companies to transfer existing
recordings of these two operas from LPs to CDs. So far, the Russian label
Aquarius has already made available the 1979 of The Voevoda conducted by Kozhukhar
and the 1980 recording of The Oprichnik
conducted by Protatorov on CDs.
Shenda Gu
Berkeley, California
Of all the great composers Tchaikovsky may be the most sensitive to performance.
It can often seem that his inspiration failed him, yet when you hear an inspired
performance it can be an incredible revelation. Surely this is why Mazeppa languished in near
obscurity for more than an hundred years. I was privileged to hear Gergiev
and the Kirov with a live concert performance of Mazeppa in 1999 in Glasgow,
which was an artistic and critical triumph. I also heard the Welsh National
Opera performance in Llandudno in July 2006, a very different take, but equally
successful. In contrast to the above views of The Enchantress and The Maid, the quality of the
music certainly in Mazeppa
reaches its highest level at the end, a most understated and convincing conclusion.
The expressionistic extremes push it at times towards melodrama, but then
with the understanding of the artists, it takes on a sublime and elevated
aspect, such as in the execution scene at the end of Act II.
I wonder if the same things might be true of The Enchantress. I remember
hearing the 1998 Gergiev live concert performance (BBC Radio 3) mentioned
by Shenda Gu as a non-commercial recording and I was impressed consistently
throughout the opera. When I heard the Samosud recording I was disappointed
by the last act. This makes me think performance may be the problem rather
than the composer’s inspiration.
For years I took for granted Tchaikovsky scholar David Brown’s opinion
when he said Iolanta was ‘insipid’
and didn’t bother getting to know it. Then I heard a concert performance directed
by Alexander Lazarev with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and was astonished
to discover a great opera. So two words of warning might be necessary with
T’s lesser regarded works: Don’t necessarily believe the scholars or critics
and seek out further performances; the rewards of discovering more great Tchaikovsky
when you thought you knew it all are immense.
Norman Armstrong
I was astonished to learn that David Brown finds "IOLANTA" "insipid".
Why then this important work of the mighty genius is his third most widely
performed opera after "Eugene" and "Queen"?
Surely the "IOLANTA" score is not a match to "masterpieces" produced by
pop, rock and other noise-making industries.
The libretto, skilfully crafted by Modest Tchaikovsky, is based on a
play by Henrick Hertz about a blind princess and her miraculous recovery.
I invite real Tchaikovsky scholars and lovers of his music to judge for
themselves.
Two "IOLANTA" recordings are available on the Internet.
One is a DVD recording of a 1982 live performance by the Bolshoi in
Moscow. The singing is outstanding. This is one of the Bolshoi's
successes. The DVD is made by FGL in France and has no subtitles or
booklet with the libretto.
The technical quality of video and audio signals is very high.
The second recording is an audio CD. Produced in 1995 by Mariinsky
Theatre in St Petersburg, conducted by V. Gergiev. This recording is also
a delight for a real Tchaikovsky enthusiast. Complemented by a booklet,
containing a history of composition and the full
libretto with transliteration and translation in English.
Both recordings are advertised by
Amazon.com and by
www.russiandvd.com
Alexander Geidelberg
Note also that Твое молчанье непонятно ("Tboyo molchanye neponyatno,"
in case the Cyrillic doesn't come through correctly), from
Iolanta, is one of the
highlights of the Anna Netrebko / Rolando Villazón "Duets" album.
Ken Pierce