Petr Weigl returns to form with this remarkable realisation of Shosta-kovich’s scarifying drama. Filming in his native Czech Republic, as usual with actors lip-synching singers, he nevertheless brings its nasty and brutish setting to vivid life. Only the Siberian trek looks a little milder than traditional depictions, but it is accurate enough. The atmospheric photography of the Izmailov farm’s barren, lamplit rooms and bathhouse adds a verismo dimension to the music’s quasi-expressionist force. You really feel a place like this would breed adultery and impulsive murder. None the less, it’s noticeable that not even the athletically explicit sexual episodes have anything like the queasily pornographic impact of Shostakovich’s whooping trombones; no wonder Stalin’s bourgeois soul was shocked. The soundtrack is the classic Rostropovich recording (CD reviewed 5/90), generally preferable to Myung-Whun Chung’s more recent version with Maria Ewing (DG, 12/93).
Its splendid pace and vivid playing suit the film, as do its lively effects, though it is substantially cut. The generally excellent actors do their best with the limitations of lip-synch, no doubt assisted by Czech’s kinship with Russian. The Katerina is youngish, nervy and intense, tragically ripe pickings for Sergei’s – and indeed her own – passion, but Vishnevskaya’s maturely resonant dramatic soprano sits uneasily on her. The Sergei melds better with Gedda’s bright tones to suggest the ruthless predator beneath the boyish charm, and Aksinya, old Izmailov and the Old Convict are splendidly portrayed. The studio acoustic is too evident, especially with the clarity of DVD mastering, to make the outdoor scenes convincing. But they achieve their effect through the music none the less. Highly recommended, especially as this work is so rarely staged.
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