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Background: This new recording of Ruslan and Lyudmila - 'the Tsar of operas' according to Tchaikovsky - is the first to make use of multi-channel super audio technology. It's also the debut of a new scholarly performance of Glinka's opera prepared especially for this Bolshoi production. In addition to working from clean accurate sources the Bolshoi's music director Alexander Vedernikov has made substantial changes to the orchestra in order to move closer to an authentic early 19th-century sound. Period brass piano & harp are employed and the size of the string section is reduced as well. Two of Russia's leading glass harmonica players were flown in from Siberia to realize this highly unusual obbligato part of this magical fairy tale opera. The cast consists almost entirely of young Russian singers whose lighter voices are appropriate for a work that was so strongly influenced by the operas of Rossini Bellini and Donizetti. Ruslan and Lyudmila was Glinka's second opera. The composer originally had plans to collaborate on the libretto with Alexander Pushkin whose narrative poem formed the basis for the story but the great poet was killed in a duel in 1837. Glinka eventually turned to Valerian Fyodorovich Shirkov for assistance though a good deal of the dramaturgical work was in fact his own. In Ruslan Glinka aimed to create a specifically Russian version of the bel canto style. Premiered in St Petersburg in 1842 the opera was not a success at first although several important European composers including Berlioz and Liszt admired the score. It is now a revered and beloved work in the Russian operatic canon - what the New Grove Dictionary of Opera calls 'the quintessential Russian Romantic opera.' A brief synopsis - Lyudmila daughter of the Prince of Kiev has become engaged to Ruslan but at a celebratory feast she vanishes. The King offers a handsome reward and Lyudmila's hand in marriage to whoever brings her back safely. Finn a magician informs Ruslan that Lyudmila has been abducted by the evil dwarf Chenomor and also warns him of the wiles of the enchantress Naina. Ruslan first defeats Chenomor's brother and is given a magic sword which he is told is the only weapon that can vanquish Chenomor. At Naina's palace Ruslan is deceived by the enchantress' sirens but is rescued by Finn. Finally Ruslan battles Chenomor himself decapitating him. Lyudmila however has been put in a trance. Farlaf one of Lyudmila's previous suitors snatches the princess from Ruslan's hands and returns to Kiev with Lyudmila for his prize. But it is Ruslan who awakens Lyudmila with the help of a magic ring given to him by Finn. In gratitude the Prince gives his daughter and half of his kingdom to Ruslan. |
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COMPOSER: Mikhail Glinka |
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CATALOGUE NR: PTC5186034