Fred Cohn
Opera News - 11 -2002
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Queen of Spades (Great Scenes)
Prokina, Obraztsova, Domashenko; Larin, Hvorostovsky, Gerello; Philharmonia of Russia, Orbelian. Texts and translations. Delos DE 328
The opera highlights album was a staple of the 1950s and '60s. Not to be confused with excerpts from complete opera recordings, these featured casts specifically assembled to inscribe an opera's most famous numbers onto an LP, and they let listeners sample such intriguing portrayals as Crespin's Tosca, Wunderlich's Rodolfo, Pinkerton and Alfredo, Fischer-Dieskau's Onegin and Valletti's Werther. Delos has revived the idea with this Queen of Spades, intended as the first in a series of "Great Scenes" releases.
The disc features an interesting cast of Soviet-born singers, most of whom, given the current state of the recording industry, are unlikely to participate in a full-length version. Chief among them is Elena Prokina, a leading prima donna in Europe and Russia, but little seen here. She is an affecting singer. Through most of her range, the tone has bite; the inflections are full of pathos. When she applies pressure at top, though, the voice becomes a shambles -- approximate in pitch and horribly spread. In the high-lying role of Lisa, this is a severe limitation, and it makes the climaxes of her final scene painful to hear.
The Gherman, Sergej Larin, has no such problems. His tenor sounds fresh, and the top rings out easily. It's a pleasure to hear Tchaikovsky's melodies so smoothly sung, but Larin doesn't begin to suggest the torment that should be central to the character's psychological makeup. He sounds like a nice young man with girl trouble, not the obsessive neurotic who drives both the Countess and Lisa to their deaths.
Elena Obraztsova's voice has divided into two distinct registers: the shreds of a top, and for the rest, an amazingly tough and flavorful chest voice. It makes for a bluntly effective Countess, less pitiable than some, but truly terrifying when her ghost visits Gherman to deliver the secret of the "tri karty." The Countess's repeated-note vocal line in this scene lies on a low F -- for Obraztsova, a very good note indeed.
Prince Yeletsky is basically a one-aria role, but as sung by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, it's quite an aria. Hvorostovsky recorded the role ten years ago, with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony (RCA, out of print); on the current recording, the voice is marginally grainier, the artistry, if anything, enhanced. His control of line and his length of breath are astounding, and he ends the aria with a messa di voce that Mattia Battistini might have envied.
As Tomsky, Vassily Gerello (a Kirov stalwart) tears into his chronicle of the Countess's past with abandon. Marina Domashenko, still in her twenties, displays a truly resplendent mezzo in Pauline's doleful lament. Under Constantine Orbelian, the Philharmonia of Russia may not have the rich-toned solidity that the Kirov brings to this repertory, but the reading has plenty of spirit, conveying a sense of a real performance that belies its studio provenance.
With more than seventy-seven minutes of music (far more than those old LPs could ever carry), Delos has managed to squeeze a whole lot of The Queen of Spades onto this disc. The Mozartean Act II divertissement is missing, but most of the emotional highlights of the opera are here: Gherman's visit to Lisa's bedroom, the death of the Countess, the fatal card game and the whole of Act III, Scene 2 -- Lisa's suicide in the Winter Canal. It will make an enticing introduction for listeners unacquainted with this opera. Dedicated Tchaikovskyans, meanwhile, will want to hear this CD for the work of Obraztsova, Gerello, Domashenko and especially Hvorostovsky.