When
reviewing the Melodiya reissue of Prokofiev's
The story of a real man recently I commented favourably on the
improvement of the presentation of their operatic discs, with the added hope
that this was not simply a 'one-off'. Well, these reissues of two
Rimsky-Korsakov one-act operas do now come with more detailed synopses, and
the standard of English translation has improved considerably. Sadly we are
still not provided with texts or translations, and in the case of Mozart and
Salieri with its closely argued plot this lack remains serious. However,
unlike some of the rarities which Melodiya have been reissuing over the last
couple of years, help is at hand on the internet where English translations
of both works can be found fairly readily. That for Mozart and Salieri comes
in the form of a reproduction of the booklet from an earlier Chandos
recording of the work (CHAN9149); whether copyright has been complied with I
do not know. Vera Sheloga can be had in Russian, in transliteration, and in
English, although in separate files in each case. The scores are also
available on the valuable ISMLP site although that for Vera Sheloga comes in
Russian only, and the vocal score for Mozart and Salieri - although the
title page suggests that this is a French edition - has the original Russian
and a singing translation in German. So, still not ideal, but better than in
some earlier issues in this series.
These two operas make an ideal coupling on CD, and it is odd that nobody
else seems to have thought of it before. Both have been available separately
in various previous issues: Mozart and Salieri in the Chandos version
referred to above, although the singing in that issue is nothing like as
resplendent as we are given here. Vera Sheloga was to be had in a
Capriccio issue which appears to have vanished from the
current listings, although in its original version it came with texts and
translations. If Capriccio do reissue that disc, I fear that they may well
jettison these - as they have done with many others of their valuable
recordings. Once again, the singing of this new reissue need fear no odious
comparisons with its later rival, even if the latter is in some ways better
recorded.
Of the two works, Mozart and Salieri is probably the better known,
although neither are precisely standard repertory. The text is taken from a
brief play by Pushkin, and enshrines the legend that Salieri was responsible
for poisoning Mozart - as the older and delirious composer confessed on his
deathbed. As such the plot has close parallels with Peter Shaffer's play
(and film) Amadeus, although the later drama has much more psychologically
argued dialogue than Pushkin's more basic study of professional jealousy.
There have been a surprising number of recordings of the work since as far
back as 1947, including versions in Russian, French, German and English. The
first generally available issue was an EMI LP issued in 1980 which
subsequently found its way onto a Berlin Classics CD. This featured Peter
Schreier and Theo Adam, and was sung in German. The recording reissued here
emerged on LP in 1988 and was for a period available on CD on the Olympia
label. Neither of these issues survived for long in the catalogues, and for
some time the only available version was that on Chandos, which also appears
to have now disappeared. Current listings comprise a live video recording
dating from 1981 and another audio version included in
Brilliant's Rimsky-Korsakov edition. I have heard neither
of these although I have at various times owned the Chandos and EMI
versions.
Quite apart from the fact that it is the only single-CD audio version, the
reissue currently under consideration is by some degree the best rendition
of the score I have come across. Nesterenko was at the time one of the
greatest exponents of what one might call the 'Chaliapin repertoire' of
Russian bass parts, and he is excellent too as the jealous composer who has
the lion's share of the musical interest in this opera. Mozart in Pushkin's
hands is not the character that Schaffer presented in Amadeus, and the
almost insipid goody-goody that we have here does not do much to attract our
interest. That said, Alexander Fedin does all he can with the part and sings
with a nice sense of lyric line but all their efforts cannot disguise the
fact that much of the action is contained in the recitative-like setting of
Pushkin's text. Without a close understanding of that text the musical
rewards can be distressingly slim. The recording places the voices rather
forward from the orchestra, but Mark Ermler allows us to hear most of the
detail although the chorus singing passages from Mozart's Requiem are if
anything too distant. On the other hand there is none of the unnatural
highlighting that sometimes afflicts Soviet recordings from this era.
The opera Vera Sheloga, an 'off-cut' from the full-length The maid of
Pskov to which it forms a prologue, is much more of a rarity. The only rival
recording in the current catalogue is a version contained in the Brilliant
Rimsky-Korsakov complete edition which has been available at times on
various CD labels including Fidelio and (as noted) Capriccio. This new
version was issued on LP by Melodiya in the late 1980s, but never appears to
have materialised on CD before. It is a full-blooded score which fares
better in the hands of Mark Ermler than with Capriccio's Stoyan Angelov; and
the Russian singers here have the edge on Angelov's Bulgarians. The
orchestral sound on this Melodiya reissue also has a sense of presence that
is lacking on the alternative, although the voices are again over-forward in
the balance which does bring out some gustiness in Tamara Milashkina's
singing.
So, although we could still wish for a better standard of presentation
from Melodiya, this release is still to a large degree self-recommending. At
least in the case of these operas copies of the text can be obtained
on-line. Is it too much to hope that Melodiya can build on their booklet
improvements by making texts and translations available on their own
website? After all, if budget labels such as Naxos and Brilliant can do
this, it should not be beyond the resources of Melodiya with their
considerably higher asking price. Our joy would then be complete as we could
appreciate this valuable series of reissues better, which is even more
important.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
