Rimsky-Korsakov Mlada/Tale of Tsar Saltan
William D. Mitchell
haunting and stirring music. I have a Le Chante Du Monde Cd of Tsar
Saltan, but it was recorded in 1955 (and sounds like it). Any new
recordings of these splendid operas in the coming year?
--
bmit...@netcom.com
Edwin Strickland
The old Chant du Monde of "Tsar Saltan" is the only one I know of on CD.
It's 1950's mono, with some distortion, but unusually good frequency response, and
it's a supurb performance. [EXPLETIVE DELETED] Chant du Monde, as always, didn't
bother with an English libretto -- French only. Typical.
Back in the 50's and 60's, there were Belgrade Opera performances of much of
the Russian repertoire, but the performances generally don't seem to be nearly
as good as the Russian ones (with some exceptions).
Mlada has not been on CD, yet, but there is a videotape of a recent Russian
production: Bolshoi Opera & Ballet, 1992, NVC Arts/Teldec Video, English subtitles.
I haven't seen it yet, but a review I read panned the dark, dismal sets. I don't
think he said anything about the performance! (If he did, I don't remember)
I have a late 70's Melodiya pressing of a 1962 Svetlanov recording of "Mlada".
Good performance, sound, & surfaces. The horsehide glue that glues the cloth cover on
the cardboard box doesn't stink like some boxes covers do!
Riksky opera releases are few and far between, except for the post-Amadeus popularity
of "Mozart & Salieri" The fact is that to get more than half of his operas, you
have to go vinyl, some of it _very_ vintage.
A super source of info on the old recordings was a double feature article in
HIGH FIDELITY, DEC 74, JAN 75. Conrad L. Osborne systematically reviewed the
performances available up till them of all major and some minor Russian composers'
operas. Find it in a large metropolitan or university library and xerox it!!!!!!!!
I don't agree with some of his opinions on individual works, but whats new about that?
I have CD's of "Mozart & Salieri" [Melodiya, coupled with Mussogrsky's "The Marriage"];
"Boyarina Vera Sheloga" [the prelude to the second version of "The Maid of Pskov"];
"Kastchei the Immortal"; "Christmas Eve" [both German produced Harmonia Mundi/Chant
du Mond _with_ English librettos]. "Christmass Eve" is SUPURB. Finally, I have the
MCA Classics "Golden Cockerel", very good, except nobody can equal the performance of
the Astrologer on the early stereo Kovalev/Akulov conducted recording [US release
on Westminster Gold, with a gilded chicken's foot on the cover -- yes, one of those!].
I'll upload a list [after I find it and ascii-ize it] of the older Rimsky and other
Russian operas I've collected over the last 20 years. There are wonderful preformances
in reasonably listenable recordings out ther, but you have to go Vinyl for most
of them.
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Edwin L. Strickland III Image Processor/Analyst
Austin, Tx. Planetary, Geologist (esp. Mars)
Ed Strick @ IO .com SF, Hard Fantsxy, Classical
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Edwin Strickland
>I'll upload a list [after I find it and ascii-ize it] of the older Rimsky and other
>Russian operas I've collected over the last 20 years. There are wonderful preformances
>in reasonably listenable recordings out ther, but you have to go Vinyl for most
>of them.
>
Here's the list for Rimsky only. This list is a working document a couple years old,
without recent additions/corrections, but I thought it might be useful.
The format of the listings under each opera is:
PERFORMING COMPANY, (DATE) / REC. COMPANY, REC. NUMBER, (MONO or STEREO) /
CONDUCTOR
Rimsky Korsakov, Nikolai [1844-1908]
The Maid of Pskov [1872]
Italian / ? / ? w. Christoff
Bolshoi / Melodiya 019333/8 (mono) / S. Sakharov
May Night [1878]
Bolshoi / MK 05404/9 (mono) / Nebolsin
Moscow R.Ch.S.O. (<1976) / DG 2709 063 (stereo) / Vladimir
Fedoseyev
The Snow Maiden [1881]
Bolshoi / MK 217e (mono) / Eugen Svetlanov
Belgrade / London XLLA (mono); Decca GOS 642/5 (stereo) /
Baranovich
Moscow R.S.O.Ch. (1977) / Columbia-Melodiya M434599 (stereo) /
Vladimir Fedoseyev
Mlada [1889]
? / Reel-to-Reel at WU / ?
Moscow R.Ch.O. (1962) / Melodiya 33C-0323/0330 (stereo) / Yevgeny
Svetlanov
Christmas Eve [1895]
Moscow Radio [1948] / Melodiya D-013693-98 Ultraphone ULP 144/6
(mono) / Nicolai Golovanov
Forum Th.Or.; Yourlov A.Ch. (1990) / Chant du Monde LDC 288001/2
(stereo) / Mikhail Yurovski
Sadko [1896]
Bolshoi/ Ultraphone ULP 127/30 (mono, on cassette) / Nicolai
Golovanov
Zagreb / Artia ALS 500/4 (pseudo) / Mladen Bashich
Mozart & Salieri [1897]
French / Olympic 9106 (pseudo) / Leobowitz
Russian / Colosseum 10420 (mono) / ? w. Reizen & Kozlovsky
Bulgarian R.TV.S, Obretenov Ch. / Harmonia Mundi HM 145 (stereo)
/ Stoyan Angelov
Bolshoi (1986) / Melodiya MCD 145 (stereo) / Mark Ermler
?
Boyarina Vera Sheloga [1898]
? / Harmonia Mundi ? / Ermler?
Bulgarian N.R.S.O. / Fidelio 1877 (stereo) / Stoyan Angelov
The Tsar's Bride [1898]
Bolshoi / Melodiya-Angel SRCI 4122 (stereo) / Fuat Mansurov
The Tale of Tsar Saltan [1900]
Bolshoi (1955) / MK 206C (mono, on cassette); Chant du Monde LDC
2781037/38 / Vassili Nebolsin
Zagreb / Artia ALS-502 (pseudo) / ?
Kaschei the Immortal [1902]
Moscow Radio Ch. Or. (1948) / Melodiya 33D 032117/20 (mono) / S. Samosud CD The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh. . .
[1904]
USSR Radio / Melodya D-06489/90; MK 209D (mono) / V. Nebolsin
CD
The Golden Cockerel [1907]
All Union R.Or.Ch. (c. 1963) / West. WGSO 8241 (stereo);
Ultraphone ULP 108/10 (mono) / Alexei Kovalev
Bolshoi (1988)/ MCA AED2-10391 (stereo) / Evgeny Svetlanov