As with the opera itself, so with this recording: the defects must be got out of the way if one is to find the rewards that are certainly there. When it was made, in Moscow in 1969, Russian recording techniques were still laggard, and in many places the sound is acidulated and the acoustic cavernous to the point of approaching obscurity. Ermler drives the orchestra hard, but without regard to recorded effect, so that the hurtling violin figures of the overture are virtually inaudible. The chorus suffer most of all, especially in the massed scenes of acclamation and so on; the more lightly scored Polovtsian Dances come off considerably better.
There are other matters requiring allowances to be made. Some of the smaller parts are not taken with much distinction, and Yaroslavna herself is sung by Tatyana Tugarinova with a shrill tone which a fearsome vibrato does nothing to improve. Konchakovna is very much better sung by Obraztsova. Though her tone is heavy, she charges it with expression, and phrases her graceful lines with meaning and authority. The men are generally excellent. Igor himself is strongly sung by Ivan Petrov, with a degree of vibrato but not at the expense of line and tone. He makes a dignified figure, and some of the best moments in the performance come in Act 2 with the exchanges between him and Alexander Vedernikov’s dignified Konchak. This ‘noble savage’ is given a warmth, a humanity, a manly compassion that are there in the melodic lines, especially in the great aria giving his captive Igor a welcome between warriors. This is superbly done. Vladimir is sung with a good strong ring by Vladimir Atlantov; and Artur Eisen completes a good group of singers, representing the best of the Bolshoi Theatre’s style in the 1960s. Since then, there has been some easing in the rigidity which can produce attitudes rather than characterization, in the honouring of a long held tradition of performance; but there is here, at best, a magnificence which is impressive, even if it is not one to dislodge Gergiev’s recent recording from pride of place.
The orchestral playing is strong, though some of it reflects a style which has since mellowed a little. The horns here sound rather too much in the older French manner, with a shimmering vibrato; some of the string phrasing uses what now sounds like exaggerated portamento, though it has to be said that this is likely to be what Borodin heard and expected. It is a rich score and, for all the improbabilities and awkwardnesses of the plot, not to mention its jerky movement forward and sideways, one that is packed with marvellous music.
The booklet has a transliteration and translations into English (reasonable), German and French. There is an introductory note, too brief by far for a work that needs some of the complicated historical and compositional background setting out for the listener’s enlightenment. In Act 2 the track listing stops corresponding to that on the disc.'