In
my review, on this site, of Relief’s Rimsky’s ‘May Night’, I suggest
that the composer, in his operatic plots, did not follow his Russian
contemporaries with episodic historical subjects. Instead he preferred
to pursue his love of mythology by setting legend and fairy tales
to which he believed his gift for harmonic and orchestral colour
was more suited. The ‘Snow Maiden’, to a libretto by the composer
based on Ostrovsky’s drama, was first produced in St. Petersburg
on 10 May 1882. It tells of a love triangle further complicated
by the fact that some of the characters are mortals whilst others
are from the fairy world.
The
Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) is the daughter of King Frost and Spring
Fairy and she yearns to leave her world and seeks to live with
mortals. Despite the warning of her parents she does so and the
songs of Lel, the shepherd, warm her frozen heart. However, her
love for him meets no response as Lel is infatuated by Kapuva,
the fiancée of Mizgir, who becomes so passionate about
Snegurochka that he deserts his betrothed. Snegurochka is so bewildered
about human love she returns to her mother who, in maternal solicitude,
bestows on her child the gift of human love. No sooner does the
Snow Maiden utter an avowal of love for Mizgir than a ray of warm
sunshine falls upon her and she floats to heaven in a vapor. Mizgir
drowns himself.
There
are many more details to the plot than the above and these are
given in the booklet, Act-by-Act, but only in French and German!
The English synopsis is a summary more akin to the above, with
the addition of an overly romantic description of the composition
of the work, and inaccurate comments about the recording with
names mentioned that do not appear in the cast! The information
about the choice of singer for the name part is interesting, but
no substitute for a detailed, preferably track related, synopsis.
This performance appeared briefly in the UK in the early 1990s
on the ‘Chant du Monde’ label whose origin in France may explain
the particular language and translation vagaries and omissions
of the booklet in this particular, Relief issue. Be that as it
may, it does becomes a greater omission when the libretto is in
Cyrillic script Russian with no translation in any language. This
matter of booklet information and translation is a failing of
these Silver Edition issues of Russian opera, which are filling
major gaps in the catalogue. Purchasers deserve better in future
if the discs are to achieve the commercial success that are the
just desserts of the performances. The label should take as a
model the Russian opera series, conducted by Gergiev, which appears
on the Philips label.
For
the role of the Snow Maiden the conductor was not happy with the
singers available on the Bolshoi roster and brought Valentina
Sokolik from Kiev for the part, preferring her lyric soprano to
the usual coloratura. In normal circumstances his choice, and
her performance here, would have guaranteed her future. As it
was she committed the ‘political’ sin, at that time, of marriage
and emigration to Israel. This state of affairs meant the banning
of the broadcast of the performance and her substitution when
conductor Fedoseyev took the company to Paris in 1983. There the
opera was widely acclaimed. Valentina Sokolik exhibits a strong
lyric voice with good extension, a solid middle with a touch of
vibrato that she uses to give a wide range of expression whilst
also being able to float a silvery phrase on a wisp of breath
(CD 1 Trs. 9, 18-19). Her mother and Lel the shepherd are portrayed
by that long time tower of strength of the Bolshoi Company, the
mezzo Irina Arkhipova. Her purity of tone, fine legato and ability
to inflect a phrase make for fine characterisation whenever she
appears. Her solo in the Prologue (CD 1 Trs. 2-3), the continuing
scene with King Frost, and also in Lel’s songs (CD 1 Trs. 16-17)
illustrate her superb voice and singer’s skills in all their facets.
I was initially less impressed with the King Frost of the veteran
Alexander Vedernikov who is distinctly dry of tone, and not ideally
steady, in ‘King Frost’s Song’ (CD 1 Tr 6). However, his vocal
focus tightens and the voice warms as the scene progresses when
his strength in the lower voice, and characterisation skills,
come to the fore. This is particularly clear in the following
scene with his daughter (CD 1 Trs 7-11).
Of
the two betrothed lovers, the Kapuva of Lidya Sakharenko I found
lacking in vocal nuance and colour, even a little shrill (CD 1
Tr. 19). Anatoly Moksayakov as Mizgir exhibits a powerful well-centred
baritone, rather Slavic in timbre, and without any great tonal
range or variety of colour. In the scene between him and Kapuva
(CD 1 Tr. 2) I struggled to get a sense of what was happening.
Not being able to read Cyrillic script didn’t help, but nor did
the expression of the singers. However, by ‘Tr 3’ the orchestra
was telling me more in its urgency; reinforced by the vibrant
appeals of the chorus of people. As in so many Russian operas,
the chorus is a major protagonist. It is self evident that this
chorus will be idiomatic. But they are more, much more, than that.
Their well articulated singing seems to underpin the whole in
whatever they are portraying. Particularly appealing is their
rendering of ‘the chorus of the blind singers’ (CD 2 Tr 4) where
a production effect sets them further back on the sound stage
with a touch of echo or added warmth. Of the other singers, there
is rather more Slavic tone and wobble to be heard than on the
other Relief issues. However this is not so much as to spoil enjoyment
of this significant addition to the Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas on
disc outside Russia.
The
recording is clear and well balanced throughout in an open unconstricted
acoustic. This allows the conductor to take full advantage of
the wide dynamic range of Rimsky’s generous and rich orchestration,
so full of colour, tonal variety and melodic invention. It is
good to have this performance available again. I hope it lasts
longer in the catalogue than last time it appeared. Potential
purchasers will tolerate the limitations of the booklet information
and luxuriate in the composer’s genius for painting orchestral
pictures other than for ‘exhibition’.
Robert
J Farr
Grand Choir of the USSR Radio
and TV