Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Artist), Semyon Bychkov (Artist), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Artist), Nuccia Focile (Artist), Neil Shicoff (Artist), Irina Arkhipova (Artist), Herve Hennequin (Artist), Francis Egerton Aleksandr Anissimov (Artist), Orchestre de Paris (Artist), St Petersburg Chamber Choir (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 1994)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B000004162
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,071 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime Tchaikovsky, November 21, 2001

By 

DJ McGovern "Derek McGovern" (Busan, South Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Audio CD)

I adore this recording of Tchaikovsky's greatest opera. Everything about it is absolutely top-notch: the cast, the conducting and the sound quality.

Eugene Onegin is a highly melodic opera - much more so, in fact, than The Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky's other operatic masterpiece. And while it has its big moments, Eugene Onegin is a much more reflective work with its own quiet and magical charm. It's an opera that grows on the listener very quickly, with its intensely personal melodies, and superbly rounded characterizations of its three central protagonists.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, as Alejandra Vernon has pointed out in her excellent review, is a wonderful Eugene Onegin. The darkness in his voice is essential to projecting his inner turmoil, but there is also sympathy there as well in his mellow timbre. Too many run-of-the-mill Onegins sound one-dimensional (ie angry all the time). Hvorostovsky makes him startlingly real, and our appreciation of his plight is all the more keenly felt because we understand his weaknesses. I share Ms Vernon's hope that we will one day be able to see a filmed performance of Hvorostovsky in this role.

Nuccia Focile is an excellent Tatyana, despite a slight inclination to shrillness at the very top of her voice. Her Letter Scene is movingly sung, and her final duet with Hvorostovsky is thrilling in its intensity.

Neil Shicoff is equally intense in his heartfelt Kuda, Kuda and the lead-up to his duel with Onegin is riveting and terrifying at the same time. The recording brings out a slight grittiness in his voice, but this is nevertheless an attractive performance. His wooing of Olga (Olga Borodina) in the gorgeous Ya Lyublyu Vas in Act 1 is suitably romantic and sweet.

With a great supporting cast and chorus, and inspired conducting from Semyon Bychnov, this is a recording to treasure.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a match made in heaven, February 3, 2001

By 

Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Audio CD)

Could there ever be a better Onegin ? The exquisite dark honey baritone, the Russian soul, and as a bonus, stunning looks that are perfect for the part. In what is like a fated "character meets performer", Dmitri Hvorostovsky IS Eugene Onegin. One can only hope that someday his performance will be filmed.

Nuccia Focile as Tatyana, and Olga Borodina as Olga, are superb, and Neil Shicoff is remarkable. He brings so much sensitivity and emotion to the part of Lensky it's a rare experience to listen to, and under the baton of Semyon Bychkov, every scene is performed to perfection.

There are many sections that are wonderful in this opera, but the best of the best has to be Lensky's aria, "Kuda, Kuda". One of the loveliest melodies ever written, and here sung with a tenderness that's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. If you dislike this type of music, just listen to this one aria (disc 2, track 7), and experience opera at its most glorious...you may find yourself enjoying it.

This box set is well put together with a 268 page booklet that contains a brief history, synopsis, biographies, and libretto in four languages, and the total time for both discs is 2 hours and 20 minutes.

For my taste, this is Tchaikovsky's supreme masterpiece. Based on Pushkin's tragic tale of unrequited and denied love, it's Russian to the core. Oh ! The passion, the torment, the beauty of it all...

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your Essential Onegin, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Audio CD)

Dmitri Hvorostovsky debut recording of Tchaikovsky and Verdi Arias that came out in 1990 featured two arias from "Eugene Onegin" - this gave us the first look at his incredible interpretation of the title character, long considered a prime baritone role in Russian opera. So when Philips released the complete opera with him, I had to have it, even though there have been wonderful recordings of it in the past, particularly with Galina Vishnevskaya as Tatiana. Hvorostovsky does not disappoint, his dark expressive baritone is perfect for the role, from the icy "Vy mne pisali?" to the desperate "Pozor... Toska..." of the final duet. Interestingly, Hvorostovsky does not end the first aria with the optional high note as he did on his debut CD, but instead accents the finality of Onegin's refusal of Tatiana's love with long priestly low note. The whole cast is first class: young Italian soprano Nuccia Focile gives inspired vulnerable characterization of Tatiana, and Borodina's Olga defies Onegin's "dull moon" description and makes us fall in love with her just like poor Lenski did, whose role is sung with real emotion here by Neil Shicoff. Incidentally, Lenski has become Shicoff's signature role and both Bychkov and Levine cast him in their respective Philips and DG recordings. Being a native speaker, I have to commend Focile for her Russian pronunciation, nicely done! A pleasant and very welcome surprise here is the most beautiful-voiced Filipievna on record - the legendary Bolshoi mezzo-soprano Irina Arkhipova. By the way, in 1997 season, she sang this unusual role for her at the Met. Bass Alexander Anisimov does full justice to the character of Prince Gremin who, while not a part of Pushkin's poem, is an integral figure in the opera. Thoughtful, well-paced conducting of Semyon Bychkov and carefully crafted chorus work round off this set, making it a top choice for any Tchaikovsky fan.