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The Invisible City of Kitezh, completed in 1905, is a remarkable opera that fuses folklore, mysticism and realism. Its subject is the story of the advancing Mongol armys entry to Great Kitezh and the citys subsequent miraculous survival. Rejecting archaisms and the more religiously inclined suggestions of his librettist, Rimsky-Korsakov sought to create an opera that is contemporary and even fairly advanced. It is therefore through composed, hinting at times at Wagnerian procedure, and flooded with the composers rich, apt and brilliant orchestral palette, fully supportive of the powerful vocal writing. From 2001 until 2009 Alexander Vedernikov was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Bolshoy Theatre. Under his direction the orchestra of the Bolshoy toured extensively, including Athens, Hamburg and Paris in February 2008, and for a season of opera and ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Review
Alexander Verdernikov draws the best out of the Cagliari players. He shapes the whole opera in a way that the rich score is presented with the vivid tone-painting strongly displayed --IRR, Mar'12
Well worth investigating. Performance **** Picture & Sound **** --BBC Music Magazine,Apr'12
Well worth investigating. Performance **** Picture & Sound **** --BBC Music Magazine,Apr'12
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
This co-production between Cagliari and the Bolshoi was slammed by critics. And certainly the impenetrable and bizarre interpretation of an already complex and unusual fable, is disappointing. Quite what the director wanted to achieve is hard to say, but he gives a very poor case for the work as a dramatic piece on stage. Some scenes have a certain, unexpected beauty of their own...
HOWEVER, this IS the only filmed version available, and for that we must be grateful. This is a sublime work, undoubtedly Rimsky's masterpiece, and despite the eccentric staging, this is beautifully performed.
Don't be put off exploring this gem of an opera by wingeing Wagnerites, complaining of plagurism. Of course Rimsky was inspired by Wagner. Many composers were. Indeed many composers were subsequently influenced by Rimsky. Such is the nature of rapid developments in creativity. I find the cross fertilisation exhilarating.
The opera combines two legends, creating a story in which the lowly peasant Fevroniya, a child of nature, is unexpectedly chosen as queen of a sacred city - Kitezh. When Tatars invade, and the city is betrayed, it is Fevroniya's prayers that are answered, rendering the city invisible. Only in Paradise does the city reappear. Combining pantheistic nature worship and sacred Orthodox music, the opera is a powerful exploration of treachery, guilt, innocence and purity, and an uplifting parable of faith; whether in Nature or God, depends on your personal view, perhaps.
Vedernikov insists on the score being given complete. His is not the most passionate or urgent view of the score. There is more drama to be found, as one hears in Gergiev's Kirov account. But where this recording scores over Gergiev is in the quality of the casting and the sound balance. The orchestra are extremely important (as usual, with Rimsky) and I find more detail coming across in this account. Vedernikov's bells in the transformation scenes are less sonorous than in the Kirov recording, perhaps, but all else is very beautifully performed.
Above all - and the reason for 4 stars - is the quite extraordinary Tatiana Monogarova. Here is a young Russian soprano with a glorious voice, soft grained, lyrical and yet powerful when required. It is the most ravishingly beautiful account I have ever heard of Fevroniya's music, far surpassing Galina Gorchakova with the Kirov (on Philips). every phrase, every moment she is on stage is illuminated with her superb, warm, commited singing. Already a known quantity from her account of Tatiana in the equally contraversial new Bolshoi Eugene Onegin, she here begs the question: why isn't she singing at Covent Garden? she would wipe the floor with Netrebko and Poplavskaya. Monogarova is simply in another league.
I hope the recording appears on CD. It deserves to. Until then, this DVD is very welcome. But please, ignore the visuals, close your eyes and just listen...
HOWEVER, this IS the only filmed version available, and for that we must be grateful. This is a sublime work, undoubtedly Rimsky's masterpiece, and despite the eccentric staging, this is beautifully performed.
Don't be put off exploring this gem of an opera by wingeing Wagnerites, complaining of plagurism. Of course Rimsky was inspired by Wagner. Many composers were. Indeed many composers were subsequently influenced by Rimsky. Such is the nature of rapid developments in creativity. I find the cross fertilisation exhilarating.
The opera combines two legends, creating a story in which the lowly peasant Fevroniya, a child of nature, is unexpectedly chosen as queen of a sacred city - Kitezh. When Tatars invade, and the city is betrayed, it is Fevroniya's prayers that are answered, rendering the city invisible. Only in Paradise does the city reappear. Combining pantheistic nature worship and sacred Orthodox music, the opera is a powerful exploration of treachery, guilt, innocence and purity, and an uplifting parable of faith; whether in Nature or God, depends on your personal view, perhaps.
Vedernikov insists on the score being given complete. His is not the most passionate or urgent view of the score. There is more drama to be found, as one hears in Gergiev's Kirov account. But where this recording scores over Gergiev is in the quality of the casting and the sound balance. The orchestra are extremely important (as usual, with Rimsky) and I find more detail coming across in this account. Vedernikov's bells in the transformation scenes are less sonorous than in the Kirov recording, perhaps, but all else is very beautifully performed.
Above all - and the reason for 4 stars - is the quite extraordinary Tatiana Monogarova. Here is a young Russian soprano with a glorious voice, soft grained, lyrical and yet powerful when required. It is the most ravishingly beautiful account I have ever heard of Fevroniya's music, far surpassing Galina Gorchakova with the Kirov (on Philips). every phrase, every moment she is on stage is illuminated with her superb, warm, commited singing. Already a known quantity from her account of Tatiana in the equally contraversial new Bolshoi Eugene Onegin, she here begs the question: why isn't she singing at Covent Garden? she would wipe the floor with Netrebko and Poplavskaya. Monogarova is simply in another league.
I hope the recording appears on CD. It deserves to. Until then, this DVD is very welcome. But please, ignore the visuals, close your eyes and just listen...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
There is good news and bad news with this DVD. The good news is that this is musically a very fine opera, generally rated as Rimsky-Korsakov's best and much more typical of his style than the more famous The Golden Cockerel. The other good news is that the singing is without exception very fine indeed.
The first piece of bad news is that on the first DVD (about 1hr) the audio and visuals are out of sync - the audio is about ½ second ahead of the video which is very distracting. The second DVD (about 2hrs) is fine. The other piece of bad news is that the production is very quirky and at times downright weird. Unfortunately on second viewing this got even more irritating.
My hope is that this DVD will make others realise what a fine opera this is, and then other versions will become available.
The first piece of bad news is that on the first DVD (about 1hr) the audio and visuals are out of sync - the audio is about ½ second ahead of the video which is very distracting. The second DVD (about 2hrs) is fine. The other piece of bad news is that the production is very quirky and at times downright weird. Unfortunately on second viewing this got even more irritating.
My hope is that this DVD will make others realise what a fine opera this is, and then other versions will become available.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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7 reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Shades of Strauss's Danae!
28 Dec 2011
Here, as with Die Liebe der Danae, is the 1st commercial DVD release of the penultimate opera by 1 of my favorite opera composers. Here, also as with Danae, a gorgeous score has been disastrously encumbered with a production filled with visual absurdities - Kitezh's Act 2 even features a gigantic ladle hanging over the stage - shades indeed of Danae's dangling piano.
Back in 1985, I was fortunate to attend a lavish, "traditional" production of this richly melodic work at the Bolshoi, where I was spared such absurdities (as on this DVD) as Fevronya applying balm not to Vselvod's wounded flesh but to his coat; Grishka pleading to Fevronya to loosen his bonds when he's not tied up at all! (before & after his plea, he was somehow "tied up" by 2 furry figures at his feet); Grishka even appears in the opera's final scene when the text & action clearly refer to him as having remained in the forest, unable to enter the city.
There's so much more that's visually puzzling it would take pages to describe it all, but here are some further examples: in Act 2, some Russians have large rectangular panels on their arms, while some Mongols have large circular panels on their backs; the set of Act 3 Scene 1, instead of showing the resplendent city of Kitezh, consists only of what look like 5 small upturned boats on stilts; near this scene's end, a batch of blue pillows are brought in to form a small pile on stage, but the miraculous mist that's supposed to appear in order to render the city invisible is itself, sad to say, invisible; Act 3 Scene 2 features 9 shaggy bell-shapes somehow (& "somewhy") hovering over a fenced enclosure in which the Mongols huddle; in Act 4 Scene 1, 6 silent women arrive with nets, which they play with for a while before wrapping them around Fevronya, while 3 other silent women walk around bearing yokes from which hang small cylinders painted like birchbark.
Making viewing even more painful, in all of Acts 1 & 2 (Disc 1), the video arrives a good second or so after the audio, a technical glitch that could & should have been caught & corrected before release. On Disc 2 (Acts 3 & 4), the audio & video are still not perfectly synchronized but are off by a split-second, nowhere as distracting as on Disc 1, but still noticeable.
The soloists are unimpressive, save for Tatiana Monogarova, lovely to look at & listen to as Fevronya. The costumes, not by the set designer, look "traditional" & seem to have come from a quite differently-styled production.
All in all, a very dreary & misguided presentation of a wonderful opera. I gave it 2 stars, however, 1 each for Rimsky-Korsakov & Monogarova.
Back in 1985, I was fortunate to attend a lavish, "traditional" production of this richly melodic work at the Bolshoi, where I was spared such absurdities (as on this DVD) as Fevronya applying balm not to Vselvod's wounded flesh but to his coat; Grishka pleading to Fevronya to loosen his bonds when he's not tied up at all! (before & after his plea, he was somehow "tied up" by 2 furry figures at his feet); Grishka even appears in the opera's final scene when the text & action clearly refer to him as having remained in the forest, unable to enter the city.
There's so much more that's visually puzzling it would take pages to describe it all, but here are some further examples: in Act 2, some Russians have large rectangular panels on their arms, while some Mongols have large circular panels on their backs; the set of Act 3 Scene 1, instead of showing the resplendent city of Kitezh, consists only of what look like 5 small upturned boats on stilts; near this scene's end, a batch of blue pillows are brought in to form a small pile on stage, but the miraculous mist that's supposed to appear in order to render the city invisible is itself, sad to say, invisible; Act 3 Scene 2 features 9 shaggy bell-shapes somehow (& "somewhy") hovering over a fenced enclosure in which the Mongols huddle; in Act 4 Scene 1, 6 silent women arrive with nets, which they play with for a while before wrapping them around Fevronya, while 3 other silent women walk around bearing yokes from which hang small cylinders painted like birchbark.
Making viewing even more painful, in all of Acts 1 & 2 (Disc 1), the video arrives a good second or so after the audio, a technical glitch that could & should have been caught & corrected before release. On Disc 2 (Acts 3 & 4), the audio & video are still not perfectly synchronized but are off by a split-second, nowhere as distracting as on Disc 1, but still noticeable.
The soloists are unimpressive, save for Tatiana Monogarova, lovely to look at & listen to as Fevronya. The costumes, not by the set designer, look "traditional" & seem to have come from a quite differently-styled production.
All in all, a very dreary & misguided presentation of a wonderful opera. I gave it 2 stars, however, 1 each for Rimsky-Korsakov & Monogarova.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Technical Problems
8 Jan 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase
I agree with other reviewers concerning the technical problems for this release. I, too, tried twice to obtain good copies, not believing that Naxos or Dynamic would release such prints.
However, I had gone one step further. I have contacted Naxos directly. They have been most forthright. I do not believe that they were aware of the problems. They have informed me that they are contacting the principle vendors/producers and will rectify the problems.
I also agree that the production is more than confusing. But then I am not Russian/Slavic and, perhaps, the gestures, sets, etc. mean something symbolic. Anyhow, it is the ONLY DVD performance we have so, once the technical difficulties are resolved, I will purchase a copy.
However, I had gone one step further. I have contacted Naxos directly. They have been most forthright. I do not believe that they were aware of the problems. They have informed me that they are contacting the principle vendors/producers and will rectify the problems.
I also agree that the production is more than confusing. But then I am not Russian/Slavic and, perhaps, the gestures, sets, etc. mean something symbolic. Anyhow, it is the ONLY DVD performance we have so, once the technical difficulties are resolved, I will purchase a copy.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Manufacturer Flaw
7 Jan 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase
I recommend Amazon customers not to purchase this item. Both copies sent to me by Amazon (the second a replacement for the first)have the same manufacturing flaw. The audio and video tracks are not synchronized and are unsynchronizable, no matter the adjustment, on any of my five disc-players. The defect is regrettable. R-K's opera is a high point of Russian music. Naxos needs to revisit its quality-control protocols.
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