Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
The Gramophone Choice
Gegam Grigorian ten Herman Maria Gulegina sop Lisa Irina Arkhipova mez Countess Nikolai Putilin bar Count Tomsky Vladimir Chernov bar Prince Yeletsky Olga Borodina mez Pauline Vladimir Solodovnikov ten Chekalinsky Sergei Alexashkin bass Surin Evgeni Boitsov ten Chaplitsky Nikolai Gassiev ten Major-Domo Gennadi Bezzubenkov bass Narumov Ludmila Filatova mez Governess Tatiana Filimonova sop Masha Chorus and Orchestra of the Kirov Opera / Valery Gergiev
Philips 438 141-2PH3 (166' · DDD · T/t) Buy from Amazon
There are major problems with all the current sets of The Queen of Spades but Valery Gergiev, one of the outstanding Tchaikovskians of the day, here coaxes from a thoroughly Western-sounding Kirov orchestra what’s surely the most refined account of the score yet recorded, and one that’s never lacking energy or full-blooded attack. His isn’t so much a compromise approach as one which stresses fatalism and underlying sadness. The recording was made in the Kirov Theatre itself, and there’s admittedly some constriction to the orchestral sound picture; but for many the atmosphere of a real stage venue will be a plus, and the all-important balance between voices and orchestra is just right. If the spine still fails to tingle as often as it should, that’s mainly a reflection of the respectable but unexciting singing.
DVD Recommendation
Yuri Marusin ten Herman Nancy Gustafson sop Lisa Felicity Palmer mez Countess Sergei Leiferkus bar Count Tomsky Dimitri Kharitonov bar Prince Yeletsky Marie-Ange Todorovitch contr Pauline Graeme Matheson-Bruce ten Chekalinsky Andrew Slater bass Surin Robert Burt ten Chaplitsky Geoffrey Pogson ten Major-Domo Christopher Thornton-Holmes bass Narumov Enid Hartle mez Governess Rachel Tovey sop Masha Glyndebourne Festival Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Andrew Davis
Stage director Graham Vick
Video director Peter Maniura
ArtHaus Musik DVD 100 272 (170‘ · 4:3 · 2.0 · 0 · s) Recorded live 1992. Buy from Amazon
Graham Vick’s 1992 staging is worthy of this extraordinary score. He reflects exactly the highly charged emotions and sense of brooding menace pervading the composer’s re-enactment of Pushkin’s story, thus creating a compelling psychodrama that compels both eye and ear. Davis catches most, if not all, of the score’s romantic sweep and inner, dislocating turbulence, although the impassioned undercurrents are better achieved in the Kirov video, conducted by Gergiev. Yuri Marusin is the crazed Herman incarnate. Whether or not you can accept his often off-pitch singing is a personal matter. As his Lisa, Nancy Gustafson offers a portrayal of an impressionable girl driven to distraction and suicide by the unhinged behaviour of her lover. She sings the part in warm, passionate tones.
Peter Maniura’s video direction catches every facial expression of both characters and of Felicity Palmer’s electrifying Countess. Sergei Leiferkus is elegant and commanding as the free-loving Tomsky. Dimitri Kharitonov is the soul of rectitude as Yeletsky and brings a bronzed tone to his lovely aria. Marie-Ange Todorovitch is an attractively palpitating Pauline. Picture and sound are exemplary.
