Recordings > Opera and Oratorio
RACHMANINOFF:
Aleko
S. Vassileva, N. Vasilieva; Akimov, Murzaev, Bezzubenkov; Chorus of the Teatro Regio, Turin, BBC Philharmonic, Noseda. Libretto, translation. Chandos 10583
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Famed theatrical director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko supplied the concise libretto for Rachmaninoff's first opera Aleko, working from Pushkin's narrative poem The Gypsies (Tsigany, published in 1827), which contained the seed of Mérimée's Carmen. Ironically, the veristic opera genre pioneered by Bizet's Carmen in 1875 led — in the wake of Mascagni's world-conquering 1890 Cavelleria Rusticana — to Aleko, a work that, like Massenet's La Navarraise, shows its clear influence structurally and thematically. Rachmaninoff broke little new ground for Russian opera here, but the melodic and coloristic examples of Tchaikovsky, Borodin and Rimsky are well applied. It's an effective piece — astonishingly so, for a twenty-year-old composer's graduation exercise. (David Nice's booklet essay offers much interesting information but neither the date nor the locus of Aleko's premiere — May 19, 1892 at Moscow's Conservatory.)
Chandos's well-engineered 2009 recording unites the musical worlds of Gianandrea Noseda. For many years Valery Gergiev's principal guest conductor at the Mariinsky (whence come all the soloists except Bulgarian soprano Svetla Vassileva), Noseda is now chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, which plays Rachmaninoff's lush, perhaps not subtle score with clarity and sweep, and music director of Turin's Teatro Regio, which supplies the chorus here. The torinese chorus performs beautifully but virtually incomprehensibly; Russian-speakers will breathe a sigh of relief when the expressive Gennady Bezzubenkov (Old Gypsy) opens his mouth. His bass sounds mellow yet, aptly, somewhat aged. As Aleko, the outsider among Gypsies, baritone Sergei Murzaev is competent but slightly rough and worn; his strongest moment is his cavatina, a familiar showpiece since Chaliapin's day. Alas, Vassileva's bright-voiced, fully idiomatic Zemfira pushes sharp and wavers on high notes. Evgeny Akimov (Young Gypsy) sings a wide range of repertory at the Mariinsky and has made some satisfying New York appearances; here his somewhat Kozlovsky-like tenor sounds unpleasantly adenoidal under pressure. Mezzo Nadezhda Vasilieva, briefly heard as an Old Gypsy Woman, shares in the prevailing tendency towards Romany wobble; maybe the soloists were too closely miked? Chandos's set isn't negligible, but there are more satisfying contemporary CD versions under the batons of Constantine Orbelian (Delos) and especially Neeme Järvi (Deutsche Grammophon); it's certainly hard to match Sergei Leiferkus in the title role on the latter.
In a different vein altogether, the 1910 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Opus 31) offers Rachmaninoff's expertly imagined deployment of Orthodox-sounding motifs and devices. Astonishingly, the hour-long piece, comprised of eighteen individual parts, does not quote pre-existing melodic material. Polyphony is banished. The rich harmonics of the unaccompanied voices are fascinating; much of the music is meditative. Along with Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ, this must be one of the most inspiring and beautiful religious works ever composed by a non-believer. Anyone who enjoys Russian choral music should know this moving piece. There are many recorded performances already; I'm attached to Vladimir Minin's 1988 Melodiya disc with the Moscow Chamber Choir. For Ondine, Sigvards Klava leads a very creditable version recorded in 2008 in the somewhat recessed cathedral acoustic of Riga's Dome. The sonorous Latvian Choir may lack some of the unearthly bass sonority of the finest Russian choruses, but they blend smoothly and handle dynamic shifts with aplomb. The soloists (earthy-vibratoed bass Gundraras Dzilums and dark-hued tenor Karlis Rutentals, a pleasingly straightforward Celebrant) sound like very good church singers rather than operatic soloists, which is apt.
DAVID SHENGOLD
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