A 20th Century Opera Collection - Dmitri Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk - Rostropovich

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Opera in 4 acts

Katerina Ismailova - Galina Vishnevskaya
Sergey - Nicolai Gedda
Boris Ismailov - Dimiter Petkov

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Mstislav Rostropovich

Amazon Review:

Written between 1930 and 1932, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was one of the most brilliant achievements of Shostakovich's long career. It was also the work that got him into trouble with Stalin. When the Soviet leader attended a performance in Moscow in 1936, almost two years after the opera's acclaimed Leningrad premiere, he personally ordered the publication of a scathing article in Pravda ("Muddle Instead of Music"), unleashing a ruthless campaign to reduce the arts in Soviet Russia to a state of dogmatic subservience to the regime. Lady Macbeth would disappear from the repertory for 30 years, and Shostakovich, despite his great gifts for opera, would focus his attention on symphonic and chamber music instead.

But what an opera this one was! Notwithstanding its title, it has nothing to do with Shakespeare's Macbeth and quite a lot to do with Dostoevsky (even though it's based on a story by another 19th-century writer, Nikolai Leskov). The plot has all the elements of a Russian epic–boredom, need, irresistible sexual longing, infidelity, murder, suicide–and the music is vintage Shostakovich, swinging between farce and tragedy with astonishing sureness, magnificently intense, deeply absorbing, yet approachable. The opera's climactic scenes are driven by music of incredible power, and there are pages of haunting lyric beauty as well, such as Katarina's aria in scene 3, or the extraordinary music that begins the love scene between Katarina and Sergey–mysterious, edgy, sensuous, and vast. It's all brought home on this recording, a labor of love from two of the composer's closest friends and greatest champions. Vishnevskaya, the great exponent of the role of Katarina, sings with untrammeled splendor, while Rostropovich, the supreme interpreter of the music of Shostakovich in our time, conducts a characterful, white-hot performance by the London Philharmonic. –Ted Libbey




Tracklist:

Disc 1:
ACT 1 - Scene 1
1 Akh, nye spitsa ból'she, popróbuyu (Katerina) 2:26
2 V dyévkakh lúchshe býlo (Katerina) 2:58
3 Gribki sevódnya búdut? (Boris/Katerina) 3:52
4 Prigotóv otrávu dlya krys (Boris/Katerina) 1:34
5 Govorl! … Plotinu-to na … (Zinovy/Mill-hand/Boris/Chorus/Sergey/Coachman/Aksinya) 2:45
6 Proshcháy, Katerina (Zinoviy/Boris/Katerina) 2:50
7 Chevó vstal? Chevó ostanovilsa? (Aksinya/Boris) 1:39
8 Interlude (Orchestra) 2:43

ACT 1 - Scene 2
9 Ay! Ay! Ay! (Aksinya/Shabby peasant/Porter/Chorus/Steward/Sergey) 2:50
10 Bárynya!…Ay…Shto s tobóyu? (Shabby peasant/Aksinya/Katerina/Sergey) 2:24
11 A nu-s, pozvól'te rúku-s (Sergey/Katerina/Shabby peasant/Boris) 4:10
12 Interlude (Orchestra) 1:55

ACT 1 - Scene 3
13 Spat' porá. Dyen proshól (Katerina/Boris) 3:18
14 Zherebyónok k kobýlke torópitsa (Katerina) 5:46
15 Kto éto, kto, kto stuchit? (Katerina/Sergey) 3:16
16 Ya poydù…Proshcháy (Sergey/Katerina/Boris) 4:35

ACT 2 - Scene 4
17 Shto znáchit stárost' (Boris) 2:52
18 Pod óknami u chuzhikh (Boris) 2:39
19 Proshcháy, Kátya, proshcháay! (Sergey/Boris/Katerina/Chorus/Shabby peasant/Porter) 4:30
20 Ustál!….Prikázhete mnye postegát'? (Boris/Porter/Katerina) 2:39
21 V kladovúyu Sergéya záperli (Boris/Porter/Katerina) 3:50
22 Vidno, skóro uzh zaryá (Chorus/Boris/Foremen/Priest) 2:50
23 Bátya, ispovyédatsa (Boris/Priest/Foremen) 1:49
24 Akh, Boris Timoféyevich (Katerina/Priest) 2:20
25 Interlude (Orchestra) 6:43

Disc 2:
ACT 2 - Scene 5
1 Sergéy, Seryózha! (Katerina/Sergey) 1:58
2 Kátya, prikhódit konyéts lyubvi náshey (Katerina/Sergey) 2:80
3 Nye pechál'sa, Sergéy (Katerina/Sergey) 1:47
4 Opyát usnúl (Katerina/Ghost of Boris) 2:45
5 Nu? Chevó tebyé? (Sergey/Katerina) 2:43
6 Slúshay, Sergéy, Sergéy! (Katerina/Sergey) 1:13
7 Katerina!….Kto tam? (Zinoviy/Katerina/Sergey) 3:00
8 Tepyér shabásh (Sergey/Katerina) 3:40

ACT 3 - Scene 6
9 Shto ty tut stoish? (Sergey/Katerina/Shabby pesant) … Interlude (Orchestra) 1:58
10 U menyá bylá kumá (Shabby peasant) 3:15
11 Interlude (Orchestra) 1:58

ACT 3 - Scene 7
12 Sózdan politséysky byl vo vrémya onó (Sergeant/Policemen) 4:20
13 U Izmaýlovoy seychás pir goróy (Sergeant/Policemen/Policman/Teacher) 2:40
14 Váshe blagorodie!…Chevó tebyé (Shabby peasant/Sergeant/Policemen) 1:13
15 Interlude (Orchestra) 2:23

ACT 3 - Scene 8
16 Sláva suprúgam (Chorus/Priest/Katerina) 5:10
17 Shto takóe? ..Zamók sórvan (Sergey/Chorus/Katerina/Priest/Drunken guest) 1:52
18 Shto takóe? Pózdno! (Katerina/Sergey/Policemen/Sergeant) 2:31

ACT 4 - Scene 9
19 Vyórsty odna za drugóy (Old convict/Chorus) 6:00
20 Stepánych! Propusti menyá (Katerina/Sentry/Sergey) 3:27
21 Nye lekhkó pósle pochóta da poklónov (Katerina) 2:48
22 Moyó pochtyénye! (Sergey/Sonyetka) 2:48
23 Ládno dostánu! (Sergey/Katerina) 2:59
24 Na chulki! Idyóm.Tepyér ty moyá (Sergey/Sonyetka/Katerina/Chorus/Woman convict/Sentry) 2:28
25 V lesú, v sámoy cháshche yest' ózero (Katerina) 3:37
26 Znáesh li, Sonyétka (Sergey/Sonyetka) 1:45
27 Vstaváy! Po mestám! Zh'vo (Officer/Chorus/Old convict) 2:40
28 Akh!…Bózhe moy! Shto takóe? (Sonyetka/Chorus/Officer/Old convict) 4:60

DOWNLOAD