Rimsky-Korsakov: Ivan the Terrible

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Composer), Thomas Schippers (Conductor), Rome Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Aldo Bertocci (Performer), Alfredo Colella (Performer), Boris Christoff (Performer), Franco Pugliese (Performer), Genia Las (Performer), Giuseppe Moretti (Performer), Lorenzo Gaetani (Performer), Nicoletta Panni (Performer), Renzo Gonzales (Performer), Ruggero Bondino (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Aldo Bertocci, Alfredo Colella, Boris Christoff, Franco Pugliese, Genia Las, et al.
• Orchestra: Rome Opera Orchestra
• Conductor: Thomas Schippers
• Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
• Audio CD (July 18, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Opera D'oro
• ASIN: B00004TWHL
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,196 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good price, great music, less-than-fantastic recording, October 18, 2000

By A Customer

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This review is from: Rimsky-Korsakov: Ivan the Terrible (Audio CD)

Its hardly worth criticising, considering the great price for this opera, but this has very poor sound quality. The recording seems to have picked up a good deal of distracting outside noise, charming in some cases and plain agitating in others. I was also a bit thrown off by the fact that the two discs were cut up into only 4 tracks, which doesn't really hurt anything, but does tend to confuse things from time to time.

The performers are top-notch, and the performance is done well at the very least. No libretto, of course, and scant information on the opera/performance. If you haven't got much money, I'd recommend this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Searching for a Better Version, December 27, 2009

By 

Dmitrirex (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rimsky-Korsakov: Ivan the Terrible (Audio CD)

I am surprised that no one mentioned that this Russian opera is sung in Italian yet the liner notes do not say if it was originally written in Italian or if this is a translated version.

I had to do a double take on when it was recorded - Live in Rome in 1969. The canned orchestral sound and dynamics (?) of the recording sounded more like something from a radio transcription from the 30s or 40s. This album pales in comparison to so many great LPs of the 60s, including Live performances. As for performances in a language other than the original, the Danish version of Boris Godunov is vastly superior to this version of Ivan the Terrible.

All the above did not bother me as much as all the talking in the background - the type that drives me crazy whenever I hear a Glenn Gould recording. There was one guy who talked incessantly to the point that I thought he was giving the singers their cues and it got to the point where I was listening more to what he was trying to say next than to the performances. As for giving singers their cues, it sounded a little like he was saying the words to prompt the singers what to sing right before they started in. I hope that guy wasn't the conductor and a mic was at the podium so you can hear those cues where, had it been placed elsewhere, you would not. Thank God for the choruses and a little to Boris Christoff who were usually able to block out the not so hushed verbalizations.

Needless to say, I have no intention of listening to this version again - all the above is not my idea of a pleasurable listening experience. There were enough good moments that tried to shine above everything else that I am definitely going to have to find another copy with better production values.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Christoff completists only, September 11, 2000

By 

Julian Grant (London, Beijing, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rimsky-Korsakov: Ivan the Terrible (Audio CD)

It's cheap, it's a rare opera, Boris Christoff is always worth hearing. But, this is not Boris Godunov. Rimsky's Tsar Ivan is a thoughtful, resigned, even gentlemanly character, and in fact he only enters the opera in the second half. You sense Christoff trying to get his teeth into something that isn't really there. To try to make this opera seem a star vehicle, the first half is brutally filleted; some of the cuts really jar, particularly when the compact 6 min Overture is here reduced to 3. Christoff is is commanding, but the rest of the cast are not - Schippers whisks things along in a lively, but cavalier fashion, but much detail is obscured by the slightly boomy and confused recording. That this opera can work, and contains powerful choral music as well as a host of minor character vignettes, is proved by Gergiev and his Kirov forces on Philips, released under the works real title, 'The Maid of Pskov'. It's full price - in this case, you get what you pay for.