Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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...

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.

This album is the definitive recording of Eugene Onegin in a long time to come. Recorded during its stage production season (with almost the same cast) at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in 1992, it is sung with a most distinguished cast - singers of Russians and non-Russians, in each of the distinguished roles.

Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which was inspired by Pushkin's narrative poem, is an opera with the style of its own. Apart from its music distinctions, it is not an opera in the traditional sense (larger than life characters, grand scenes, etc.), but a series of "lyrical scenes" as Tchaikovsky referred, although its drama is not any less intense to be an opera. It is about love, aspects of love - bliss, longings, and passions - that is reflected from each of the central characters. It works very well on stage in an intimate production, and so does it on recording. The music sets the mood and flavor of each scene that speaks for itself and plays by itself. The psychological conduction of the characters is largely relied on the singers' vocal acting. As firstly insisted by Tchaikovsky, it is essential that characters are played by young singers who look and feel the closest to the characters.

They say there is a lot of Pushkin in the title role Onegin, who is bright and dashing, also aloof and cynical, and whose deep passion was not grown into flame until the last act of the opera. You'd feel grateful that Tchaikovsky gave Onegin to a baritone. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, with a beautiful lyric voice and a dramatic temperament, fits perfectly for the role. The dark toned voice is most effective in striking the dramatic chord while his lyrical sense brings sensitivity to this otherwise not-so-likable character. His Onegin is idiomatic in the emotional coloring in the music that comes from the sound of Russian language. At the time of this production's season in Paris, Hvorostovsky, who waltzed and mazurka-ed on stage, was about the same age as Onegin in the last act. These days he still sings the role regularly in various opera houses. You could very much say that this role belongs to him and he has made Eugene Onegin convincingly human and real. Compared to Onegin's complexities, Tatyana and Lensky are two characters easier to identify. Nuccia Focile's voice rings with clarity and freshness that fully realizes the beautifully illustrated Tatyana. In Tatyana's elaborate letter-writing scene, Focile's singing embodies the character's tenderness, sensitivity, and impulsiveness with great conviction. Neil Shicoff's lyric tenor is ideal for Lensky. The voice has an elegant timbre, well focused and expressive. He sings Lensky with such vivid emotions, and in the famous Lensky's aria he delivers a most heartfelt rendering. Distinguished Russian mezzo Olga Borodina makes the most of the simple-minded Olga, which is a role that wasn't given a lot of depth for what it lacks. Russian mezzo Irina Arkhipova is in the cameo role of Filipyevna, singing with great strength. St Petersburg Chamber Choir is brilliant as ever, particularly in the ethnic songs. And the last, but certainly not the least, Russian-born conductor Semyon Bychkov imparts Tchaikovsky's sensitivity, poetic beauty, and passion through the orchestra with success and style.

Hvorostovsky was the star draw that attracted me to this recording, but every time I've listened to this opera, it has drawn me deeper and deeper into its coils. I find it incredibly touching and moving, and having recently heard numerous tenors giving Lensky's Kuda kuda aria a go in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, Shicoff's rendition is startling in its memorability and clarity.

I'm not Russian, so I can't make any comment on the ability of the singers to handle the language, but, this recording has made me a complete fan of Tchaikovsky and drawn me to his other operas and his symphonies. Every time I hear it I find it more poignant, enthralling and romantic.

Having now heard the recording, I must express some disappointment with it and the hype in its favour as follows:

- Nuccia Focile is excellent with her singing and characterisation as Tatjjána; however, it's obvious that neither she nor Neil Shicoff (who doesn't strike me as having the real nobility of voice for the rôle of Vladímir Ljénskiy) have fully mastered their Russian diction. Most of the time they're OK, but now and then when they slip, it's noticeable to this Russian speaker. [No such complaints generally apply to Dmítriy Khvorostóvskiy, Óljga Bórodina, or Irína Arkhipóva - this last-named is a revelation of how well a voice can beautifully survive the wear of time, well done!]

- Sjemjón Bï'chkov jars with some of his conducting, both in terms of letting the singers have excessive liberties with the music and also with some of the emphases in the orchestral writing which at times seem vulgar! [A case in point concerns the Prelude to Act I: where is the yearning Rostropóvich so beautifully brings to that critical overture, taking his time and not over-accenting where it's best not done? Alas, other conductors are worse as described below...]

- Furthermore, I strongly object to the Écossaises of Act III being cut on recordings! [This is caught due to knowing the movements from other recordings plus following with the Dover orchestral score.] Granted that that movement and its réprise were composed later: these parts are still on the same high level as the rest of the work and don't deserve consequently to be cut.

- The twin stars of this recording that most impress me thus are the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir (they really sound fabulous!) and Irína Arkhipóva.

In sum: good but not great. [What on earth has happened with the 1969 recording with Rostropóvich conducting with his wife playing Tatjjána - that's the one I'd recommend and would have preferred to go along with by far...alas, Borís Khaíkin's handling of the Prelude to Act I is even worse than Bï'chkov, while Solti (from the samples provided) seems somewhat less than fully involved with his soul in this music (he wasn't best-known for his Chaykóvskiy interpretations)!]

From Chris Archbold of Darby, Mt. (chrisjarchbold@iname.com)

Though I am not really familiar with this opera itself, when I saw the casting of it, and that it is a Tchaikovsky work of reputation, I bought it.

The casting is top-rate. The conducting and the orchestra are very good.

Each character in the opera is very well repre- sented: Neil Shicoff is exceptional, Dmitri Hvorostovsky is exceptional, and the main reason I purchased the opera is because of Nuccia Focile representing Tatjana. Not exactly a household name in this part of the world, she shows here, in 1992, and thereafter, that hers is an exceptional, extraordinary voice in many ways. A single record performance cannot put a thumb on her. She is a nice fit with this superb cast.

The voices and the instruments make the music a nice rich sound; very Russian.

When The Gramophone gave a lukewarm review to Levine's 1989 Eugene Onegin on DG and a stone rave to this 1993 set under Semyon Bychkov, I felt a healthy skepticism. How a magazine solely devoted to classical music listening could hire writers with tin ears is beyond me. I decided to investigate for myself. Without a doubt these are the two leading modern versions of Tchaikovsky's most famous opera, at least outside Russia itself. Ironically, considering that he has sniffed out many rarely heard Russian operas, Valery Gergiev wasn't given the chance to record Eugene Onegin, the second most famous Russian opera, after Boris Godunov; Philips gave the nod to Bychkov instead.

Here's my evaluation of Levine versus Bychkov:

Levine/ Dresden: This is a non-Russian reading with a stellar international cast (British, Italian, American), replicating a great night at the Met in the late Eighties, only transferred to Dresden. The advantages of having world-class musicians at every level, from Levine's truly exceptional conducting to the Staatkapelle's gorgeous orchestral sound and the casting of Freni, Allen, and Shicoff, are unmatched by any rivals. And every singer is in stupdendous voice. How anyone could rate this set below the highest is a mystery to me. Even the German chorus sounds totally Slavic, but then, it helps that 999 out of a thousand Western listeners don't know a syllable of Russian (beyond nyet and da). That's one of the reasons Onegin has been so often performaed in the West without benefit of Slavic voices.

What really matters is dramatic conviction, and here again the Levine set is unequalled outside Russia. Tchaikovsky's score is musically static compared to Verdi, with many intimate scenes and inward emotions. Melodies are spun out slowly over long stretches. Therefore, it's vital to have a conductor and singers who bring inner vibrancy to every bar. Levine, Freni, Shicoff, and Allen do just that. I couldn't tear myself away, which wasn't the case listening to the Bychkov set. The one minus cited by many critics has to do with Freni's age, but she's in great voice and frankly sounds as young as anyone could wish without being girlish. Her counterpart on the Bychkov set, Nuccia Focile, sounds fresher but is nowhere near the artist that Freni is. In sum, this is one of Levine's real (and surprising) triumphs on disc.

Bychkov/ Paris -- I am an admirer of Semyon Bychkov, particularly in his early days when he shot to prominence conducting the Berlin Phil. and, as here, the Orchestre de Paris, but his skillful management of the score is underpowereed and at times slack compared to Levine. The melodic line is allowed to languish, however prettily, too often. His orchestra is quite good--it's not recorded in the best sound by Philips--yet it lacks the special finesse and glow of the Dresden group.

The main reason that critics swooned over this set comes down to one name: Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Onegin is his signature role, as Boris Godunov was for Christoff, and he makes the most of it. With his matinee-idol looks, DH is a smash onstage; moreover, he bothers to act with his voice here (as he rarely does in Verdi, Mozart, or sometimes in Russian roles). With his perfeclty even vocal production and superb dramatic inflections, no better, more alluring hero can be imagined.

But the superiority of the singing stops there. Focile gives us a fine Tatyana, no doubt, but her voice is rather edgy, especially as recorded by Philips. Neil Shicoff repeats his excellent Lensky (his signature role) from the Levine set, but he's notably less fresh and ardent. In fact, Shicoff provides a touchstone for comparison. Listen to any passage where he appears, and see if Levine doesn't bring out much the best in him compared to Bychkov.

Much more could be said about both these esteemed sets, yet this is one case where the dark horse wins the rqce. I plump for the Levine recording on all counts except Hvorostovsky. He has countless fans, and his Onegin proves that he deserves them. For overall musical pleasure, however, the Philips recording comes in second.

Unless Valery Gergiev and Dmitri Hvorostovsky give it another try.
Well, I've heard DH and Gergiev in their MET Onegin this February, and would say that DH is an even better Onegin NOW than he was in 1993. He is definitely the best Onegin - even Tchaikovsky would not have opted otherwise.
Focile as Tatyana is good, but at moments her voice sounds a bit thin. So is Schicoff's Lensky, at certain points a bit dry sounding.
The then young Borodina is a good Olga, and so is rest of the cast.
The opera is about the most beautiful of Tchaikovsky's. Beautiful music abound, full of drama and haunting lyricism.
The conducting couldn't be bettered, except perhaps by Gergiev himself (and then only perhaps).
The roving final duet between Hvorostovsky and Fleming in the MET production this February would well be the best final scene of this opera for many years to come. In this present recording, it is good, but simply not the best if compared to that one.
Alas, only DH could beat himself.

Petery Ilych Tchaikovsky, best known for his ballets, was a true romantic. Covering every aspect of late 19th century music, he took up all sorts of challenges, symphonies, religious music, tone poems, chamber music, piano concerti and opera. Eugene Onegin is not his only opera, as he composed at least four or six other lesser known operas, among them Queen of Spades. But Eugene Onegin stands out as his finest opera and it is, as a whole, the most romantic Russian opera. In the same tradition as Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's La Boheme, this oh so tragic tale of unfulfillable love in the beautiful countryside and imperial ballrooms of Moscow, based on a Russian novel, takes us on an incredibly touching musical journey. This particular recording is the best, and all the reviews made so far about this is true. The conductor, a Russian (thank God), the performers (all Russian) and the Paris Orchestra, add the perfect Russian, but elegant
Western and European tastes that Tchaikovsky would have loved to see performed. Tatiana and Onegin have terrific chemistry in the last duet, the Letter Scene and the Waltz are all perfectly captured in its most intimate and essential manifestation. I highly recommend this opera to anyone who loves romantic tragedy, beautifully orchestrated music and Russian opera at its best.