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DVORAK: Othello Overture. Song to the Moon from Rusalka.
Songs My Mother Taught Me. Polonaise from Rusalka. Oh,
it isuseles from Ruslka. Symphony
No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World." SMETANA: How
Confused I Feel from Dalibor. 'GREAT MOMENTS IN RUSSIAN OPERA" PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons is a major figure on today's musical scene, principal conductor of the Boston Symphony and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras. He is in demand everywhere, including the Met and other leading opera houses. He recently was appointed music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra†ra. He has begun a series of Bruckner symphonies wi†with them for CD, and now we have this video of concert s in May 2017, an all-Dvorak program that ended with the Symphony No 9. This seems to be aa favorite of the conductor. He already has a CD and a video of his performance with the Bavarian Radio Symophony.The program began with Othello Overture, followed by vocal music of Dvorak and Smetana featuring soprano Kristine Opolais, also a Latvian. Nelsons and Opolais married in 2011, have a daughter, and recently divorced. But all was compatible in these rich performances of Czech music. The Symphony is given a somewhat leisurely reading with great attention to detail. However, this is not a very exciting reading of the masterpiece possibly because of audio, which, while rich and detailed, has subdued brass throughout. Sound is far removed from the sonic glory of recent Leipzig Mahler performances with Riccardo Chailly (Symphony No. 7 (REVIEW) and Symphony No. 8 (REVIEW). The camera always is in the right place and even captured the single soft cymbal at the beginning of the symphony's finale (the only time cymbals are used in the music except, of course, for Stokowski performances). Slavonic Dance Op. 72 No. 2 is played as an encore. This is a very beautiful concert, but more dynamic New Worlds can be found elsewhere including the conductor's Bavarian performance. VAI's "greatest moments" DVD i offers brief excerpts from many Russian operas, as listed above. The earliest is the 1954 Coronation Scene from Boris Godounov; most most performances are from the 1980's. Video quality varies greatly, but always is good enough to convey the memorable performances. We have the opportunity to view the Bolshoi at its best, with fantastic elaborate costumes and sets. The brief excerpt from Prince Igor is exiting indeed, far removed from the recent modernized production at the Met. One might question why they included the overture to The Tzar's Bride when there are so many vocal treasures they could have in its place. If these samples whet your appetite, you will find all of the complete performances in VAI's catalog. A tantalizing sampler indeed! More than a decade ago, this site praised a magnificent LaScala production of Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. This was the brilliant staging by Kenneth MacMillan, choreography adapted by Monica Parker, Georgina Parkinson and Julie Lincoln (REVIEW) Now we have a recent LaScala production of the ballet again in the MacMillan staging, and it is a perfect presentation of Prokofiev's masterpiece. The two lead dancers, Roberto Bolle and Misty Copland are a handsome pair of unfortunate lovers. It is a splendid show, and another plus is the multi-channel audio. Camera direction is overly active and sometimes there are inappropriate unusual angles. R.E.B. (June 2018)
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