Customer Reviews

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Iolanta

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Not only a brilliantly creative mind, Tchaikovsky was the only Russian composer of his time with a formal musical education. Iolanta's original woodwind treatments is one example of why the late Igor Stravinsky was so enamored with this composer. However, replacing traditional string accompaniment with woodwinds drove Rimsky-Korsakov to trash the piece in his memoirs. Nicolai went on to mention how much more favorably Iolanta was received over Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker (So much for that critique!). Gustav Mahler tried to make a case for Iolanta to become regular opera repertory, but with little luck.

Iolanta is yet another buried Russian opera. However, Tchaikovsky simply didn't write a bad opera. The story about a blind princess learning to see through love was a deliberate choice of subject matter by the composer for this, his last, opera. The ironically symbolic connotations reflect Tchaikovsky's own troubled love life. Once again, his brother Modest wrote the libretto. There has been some criticism of that writing. Just chalk the libretto's limitations to the subject matter (medieval fairy tale) and the fact that the brothers were just coming off Pique Dame, possibly opera's most original libretto (can't hit all of them out of the park). Still, the music is as powerful as any of Tchaikovsky's operas and better than almost all the French operas (except Carmen) that influenced him.

The main cast requires ten very capable singers (another reason this isn't performed too often). And that's where the Philips' Kirov series comes to the rescue. If you've purchased any of them before, you're probably getting familiar with some of the Kirov's cast. Galina Gorchakova (Pskovitjanka, Invisible City, Maid of Pskov) is wonderful and very moving as Iolanta, the blind princess. Gegam Grigorian (Prince Igor, Pique Dame) is remarkable as the love-struck count. Pulling it together is the silky bass sound of Sergei Alexashkin (Mazepa, Sadko, War and Peace) as King Rene'. This recording is an easy listen. After the first few times, it becomes downright haunting. As for Iolanta, it will continue to gain ground over the next century. Buy it! Just base the purchase on blind faith.

Having listened to the CD as well as the same orchestra, chorus and director (but different singers except for King René) performing in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw I must say I have seldomly been in such high spirits after an opera. It's a highly moving story, although not historically accurate, more like a fairytale. This opera was performed together with "the Nutcracker" and at that first performance in 1981 was received better than "Nutcracker".Having listened to it with such delight it is only a pity that nowadays mainly Russian audiences have the pleasure still to see it performed live. The music is the strongest part here, which was intended by Tchaikowsky:he meant to give a deeper meaning to what was happening on the stage mainly by the music. It doesn't fail to deeply touch the listener's heart. It has lots of melodies that seem typically Russian to me, full of passion and these melodies keep haunting my imagination in a sense I hadn't thought anymore to be possible. The CD is a little expensive given the fact that it only lasts 96 minutes (just 24 for the second CD, why not put parts of "The Nutcracker" on it ?) but is well worth the buy. Like with me it may well change your whole preference for styles and languages in opera. The booklet has the Russian cyrillic, Russian transliteration, English, German and French texts, as well as an introduction in these languages and in Italian but no Italian text (remarkably).

Anyone who is familiar with Tchaikovsky's propensity for big emotional melodies will probably find "Iolanta" to be, initially, a little dry. It lacks the high voltage of "Pique Dame" and "Eugen Onegin" and is more intimate in scope. Having said that, this is still a worthwhile listen and evidnece that Tchaikovsky could do more than excite emotions. Certainly, Gergiev and his ensemble, notably Gorchakova and Hvorstovsky, make the best case for this opera. I'd still probably prefer Tchaikovsky's other operas, but this is a rewarding listen.

This a an unusual production among Tchaicovsky's operatic work. Lightful, full of symbolic lyricism, the pure melodies used thorough the play captivate any listener, along with the moving story.
This version isn't ideal just for one point (not minor): Gorchakova's voice is too dark and heavy for the part. Thus said, let's move on: Grigoriam is moving, passionate... just wonderful. All the rest of the singers are perfect. Gergiev misses some details in the score; but all put together, he is a fine conductor. Tchaicovsky's rare beautyful gem is worth to get this set.

That is the beginning of Milton's great invocation of Light in Paradise Lost Book III. I wonder whether Modest Tchaikovsky, the composer's brother and librettist, knew the line, or perhaps his immediate source Henrik Hertz did, because it turns up almost verbatim in the mouth of first the sighted Prince Vaudemont and later the blind Iolanta herself. To me sight is a gift beyond price, but hearing matters almost more than sight does, and my own ears have been spared into old age long enough to let me enjoy this marvellous opera for the first time when older than its composer was allowed to live to be. Looking through a few other reviews I find that this experience is not unique to me, and that my enthusiasm for what I have found here is shared by others as well. I wonder indeed how anyone could fail to enjoy it.

This is a one-act opera, turned out as a kind of multibuy along with The Nutcracker ballet. One-act operas are a headache for the schedulers and producers who have to stage them, but that does not have to bother armchair enthusiasts, even if the second disc is decidedly short. The right kind of one-act opera is very easy to follow and places no strain on the listener's patience, and in the right kind of performance it can be a simply terrific musical event. That is the deal you get here. The story is not quite a fairy tale, but with a blind princess having her sight restored through the power of virginal love helped along by the mystic ministrations of an oriental swami it is not far off one. The performers cover themselves in glory, although even in a single-act opera you would not expect every note by every singer to be absolutely spot-on. The point is that they have the idea of it all to something like perfection, and they can rise to the great moments (of which there are more than we have any right to expect in so short an opera) very fully. Galina Gorchakova has a definitely mature voice, but we have to suspend disbelief surely? In Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel the mighty Elisabeths Schwarzkopf and Grummer rightly moderate their tone as befits children. This opera has some delightful suggestions of Hansel and Gretel about it, but Iolanta is not a babe (or not that sort of babe) in the woods: she is a young woman ready to feel the first stirrings of sexual love, this is an opera and she has to dominate ensembles and be an equal duettist with Vaudemont, so let's be realistic.

The other parts are just fine, with a minor caveat regarding Sergei Alexashkin as the King. He has the feel for the part, he has basically a fine voice, but in some of his frequent basso profundo descents he has what I might call a touch of the Hans Hotters, aka pitch-wobbles. I can ignore those and appreciate his fine vocal acting, something I can credit to the entire cast. Indeed, let me compliment not just the cast but the casting. The voices are nicely differentiated, as is only fair to Tchaikovsky who put in the basic work in that respect. If I may say in passing, I can't make sense of Beecham's remark that Tchaikovsky (like Beethoven) was highly dramatic in his symphonies but not in his dramas. Roger in the case of Beethoven: a towering musical genius sure, but I quite agree no dramatist (as Shaw also says) - however Tchaikovsky undramatic on the stage? Beecham was the great Beecham, but he has me baffled with this one.

This is now my fourth acquisition in the Gergiev/Kirov series, following on Sadko, Boris Godunov and Pique Dame. The virtues are as before, and they are mega. The director seems to understand this music with the marrow of his bones as well as with his head, the choral and orchestral work is superb, and the balance is exactly my own idea of the best recorded balance for most operas. The production is fairly lavish, with polyglot versions of the libretto and liner essay. Indeed the Russian version of the libretto comes in both the original Cyrillic script and a Roman transliteration. The English liner note is a typically workmanlike submission from John Warrack, those in other tongues being from other hands. We read and hear now and again about people whose sight has been restored. I do not for a moment believe that any deeper allegory was intended in Iolanta - the subject made a good opera, and the composer said that much too. However, what an opera. All great music communicates with something outside above and beyond, so let Milton have the last word

Hail holy Light, offspring of heav'n first born,
Or of th' eternal co-eternal beam,
May I express thee unblamed?

I have recently got this recording set. What a great lyric opera I have missed earlier! There is absolutely no reason for its obscurity. It is sheer bad luck for Tchaikovsky. This opera received its first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on 18th December 1892.
The action takes place in the mountains of Southern France in the fifteenth century. This is Tchaikovsky's last opera. His other operas are Voyevoda, Undina, Enchantress, Vakula the Smith, Cherevichki,Oprichnik, Mazeppa, Pique Dame, Maid of Orleans and Yevgeny Onegin besides this.
The Director of the Imperial Theater, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, commissioned Tchaikovsky to write a one-act opera and two-act ballet in 1891. The result was Iolanta and Casse-Noisette(the Nutcracker).
Tchaikovsky was inspired by the one act play by the Danish playwright, Henrik Hertz, in 1845 called 'King Rene's Daughter'. The subject fascinated him for its poetic quality. The librettist was his brother, Modeste. Modeste worked on the translation of the Hertz play in Moscow by Vladimir Zotov.
Both the opera and the ballet were admired by Tsar Nicholas who was in the audience. Even Gustav Mahler later championed Iolanta and made it a regular opera in his repertoire.
The story is about King Rene and his blind daughter Iolanta. She is cured by the miracle working Moorish doctor, Ibn Hakia, who succeeds only when he is assured that she really wishes to be cured. Iolanta is betrothed to Prince Robert who does not love her and he is in love with Mathilde. It is the knightly Vaudemont who takes a liking to Iolanta without knowing that she is blind. When he discovers her plight, he still accepts her and motivates her to see the beauty of the creation in this life. She begins to like him and agrees to get her condition cured by Ibn Hakia.
Tchaikovsky opens the prelude to this one-act opera with a score only for winds (which was run down by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)and brass. A lovely effect is created followed by the introduction of harp and strings for the opening garden scene. The music is reminiscent of Handel (Xerxes), Brahms (second piano concerto Andante), Puccini's La Boheme and Wagner's Tristan Prelude. There is a touch of rococo style in the first few scenes. There is brilliant scoring and melodic interjection in the arias of Ibn Hakia, Robert, King Rene, Iolanta and her duet with Vaudemont. The opera concludes with a majestic contrapuntal scene including Iolanta, Ibn Hakia, King Rene, Vaudemont, Brigitta and Laura (Iolanta's friends), Bertrand (Doorkeeper), Martha ( his wife), Almeric (armour bearer to the King), Robert and chorus.
As I have mentioned earlier, I have heard this opera for the first time yesterday in this brilliant performance by the Kirov Opera and Orchestra under the splendid direction of Valery Gergiev. This is a superb production by Philips recorded in 1996. The recording is crisp and clear. An impressive CD set worthy of an addition to any opera lover's collecction and particularly of those who like the music of Tchaikovsky. This opera deserves more hearings than accorded presently in the universal operatic repertoire. This recording will deserve AAA and five star nod from me.