Rimsky-Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (De Nederlandse Opera)

Svetlana Ignatovich (Fevroniya); John Daszak (Grishka Kuterma); Vladimir Vaneev (Prince Yuriy Vsevolodovich); Maxim Aksenov (Prince Vsevolod Yuryevich); Ante Jerkunica (Bedyay); Vladimir Ognovenko (Burunday); Alexey Markov (Fyodor Poyarok); Mayram Sokolova (Page); Dmitri Tcherniakov (Director); Marc Albrecht (Conductor);

Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera is a fanciful fairytale, yet at the same time a parable on repression and political conceit. The peasant girl Fevroniya’s prayer that the city of Kitezh becomes invisible, thus protecting it from Tatar attack, is magically heeded. The girl herself, however, is captured by the invaders. The leitmotifs and highly expressive musical tone-painting tell the story, based on a pantheist world view, almost on their own. Grand crowd scenes contrast with a internal treatment similar to the music dramas of Richard Wagner. Marc Albrecht conducts the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the dramatic staging comes from the renowned Russian director, Dmitri Tcherniakov.

Recorded live at the De Nederlandse Opera, February 2012

Reviews

"Svetlana Ignatovich’s soprano rode the orchestra here with ease, singing with an appealing Slavonic glint (but never edge) and warmth; even if the colours in her voice get paler near the top, at least this very moving singing-actress has the top notes required. Marc Albrecht, the Netherlands Opera’s new music director, did a magnificent job ... stamping his mark on the long score and drawing warm playing from the very start, where melting wind solos spun their lines over a cushion of strings—forest murmurs that suggest Siegfried perhaps more than Parsifal. The orchestral playing was consistently brilliant, not least in the battle interlude. And in the final scene, where the grandiose diatonic chords that accompany Fevroniya’s spiritual transformation do call to mind Parsifal’s ‘Dresden Amen’, Rimsky’s score attains a fascinating mix of Wagnerian and Slavonic elements to be found nowhere else." (Opera)

"[Tcherniakov's staging] worked perfectly and the long evening was a triumph. Thanks to the conductor Marc Albrecht, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the excellent Chorus of Dutch National Opera this became a great event also musically. Star of the production is the soprano Svetlana Ignatovich who created a totally believable character out of Fevroniya. Opera at its best." (Trouw ★★★★★)

"Dmitri Tcherniakov’s staging of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh’ is a masterpiece, and on the musical side there is no less power under the inspired baton of Marc Albrecht. For anyone who does not know this outstanding and certainly underrated work, this video is a must-buy." (Pizzicato)