Product Details

• Actors: Vladimir Ognovenko, Anna Netrebko, Larissa Diadkova, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Galina Gorchakova
• Directors: Valery Gergiev, Lotfi Mansouri
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Unknown (DTS 5.1), Unknown (PCM Stereo), Russian (Dolby Digital 2.0), Russian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Russian (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Philips
• DVD Release Date: July 1, 2003
• Run Time: 288 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000093FQI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,304 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

GLINKA:RUSLAN AND LYUDMILA - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, May 14, 2004

By 

wvmcl "wvmcl" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila (DVD)

Glinka's RUSLAN AND LYUDMILLA, based on a Pushkin fairy tale, is probably the second greatest Russian opera, after Mussorgsky's BORIS GODUNOV. Unfortunately, it is very little known and rarely performed in the West. So it's great news that this excellent production is now available. Like the other Kirov/Gergiev operas on video and DVD, this one is a class production with fine ensemble work. The sound and technical quality is excellent. If you have any interest in Russian opera, this is a must-have.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Russian Opera in the Very Setting for Which it was Meant, July 29, 2006

By 

Kelly L. Norman "li'l rock & roller" (Plymouth, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila (DVD)

A tale based on fantasy and sorcery, from a story of Pushkin's, this opera recalls the current trend in popularity of fantasy fiction, and of Shakesepeare's magic plays. Briefly, at a princesses' wedding, where two rejected suitors are present, she is abducted by supernatural forces. Many who were enemies before join hands to find and save her now, as the grief-stricken king promises her hand to whomever can save her. Not everyone is honest of course (what kind of opera would that be?), and the personalities that come through the music keep one on the edge of one's seat wondering if the lovely Lyudmila will end up with the one who truly loves her.

I found the singing to be pure and enjoyable. As conductor Valery Gergiev will mention in the first "extra", Anna Netrebko's voice was still fairly young at this time, but her character, Lyudmilla, called for a very young, impressionable woman. The contralto, Larissa Diadkova, and Galina Garchakova, both had strong mature voices. The acting was fine as well.

This is one of those charming DVDs that actually takes advantage of the digital storage space for which the medium was created, providing not only the advertised opera but a couple of useful extra features as well. One of them, "Introducing Ruslan", an interview with Gergiev on "Ruslan & Lyudmila"'s place in music history is a staid but informative piece that one might want to watch before the opera itself if unfamiliar with the Glinka piece. The other, "Catching Up With Music", is a by-the-official-bio history of the maestro's life up to and including his days managing the full operations of the Mariinsky (etc., etc., etc.). The former includes some rehearsal footage of "R & G" as well as explaining Gergiev's (from hindsight, wise) decision to take risks with "young, undeveloped artists such as Netrebko" at the Kirov whose voices may not be mature but who are "fresh and naive". Indeed, the fact that the former king-of-the-Soviet-hill Bolshoi is finally quietly catching up again to the Mariinsky is because they have a new staff copying Gergiev's business model of the 90's....don't scream so much when the old artists want to leave, and cultivate new ones from the bottom up (the difference being, of course, that the Bolshoi has a "staff", and the Mariinsky has a "Gergiev". But I digress....).


"Catching Up With Music" is just plain fun, nothing outside of the official press releases you get from the Decca or Mariinsky web sites except some baby pictures and a number of scenes of Mr. Gergiev running, flying, recording and performing with different orchestras. (And pretending, not very well, to relax.)

The DVD is accompanied by a booklet giving further information about the composer and opera.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Came for Anna Netrebko, stayed for Valery Gergiev, March 21, 2008

By 

Michael A. Kalm (Salt Lake City, Utah, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Glinka - Ruslan and Lyudmila (DVD)

I found out about this DVD, from an extra on the DVD, "Anna Netrebko, the Woman, the Voice." Netrebko was just 23 when she starred in this production, and she could not have been more beautiful. Her voice matched her beauty in every way, as did her piquant acting - just the way real life should be.
Like most people, the only thing I knew about the opera was the overture, one of the all time great pot-boilers. I never tire of hearing it. The opera itself is very interesting with uniquely Russian (I can say that because apparently Glinka started it all,) combinations of voices, three basses singing with one soprano, a weirdly pitched dramatic tenor as the Bard, and a very strange trouser role of the Persian prince.
The opera's about four hours long, on two disks. But the real special find on this DVD are the extras, an 18 minute documentary of the making of the opera and its history, and then an hour documentary about Valery Gergiev's life and connections to music. That one hour is worth the entire DVD. To see and hear that kind of talent, intensity, humanity, how it was impacted by the history and politics of Russia, for anyone who loves music, it is a MUST HAVE!
One little side note, in the 18 minute documentary about the opera, Gergiev mentions that they recreated the sets and costumes from the 1891 production, (which was the 50th anniversary production of the work,) and that it was very light. He added, "many opera productions are really dark, so it doesn't much matter what the singers look like, but this one, being so light, we knew we had to find a Lyudmila who looked the part."
They did.