Guild has
never been known
to shy away from unusual recordings, as long as they are good,
and this one is very good. Your instincts might battle the
thought of a Traviata in Russian, but there is a lot to enjoy
here, together with that which is, shall we say, controversial.
I must tell you in all honesty that my knowledge of the Russian
language extends only to the words I've learnt from the operas and
that there isn't a translation or text included with this set, so my review is
based entirely on my familiarity with the original.
First the conductor then. Alexander Orlov turns in a supremely idiomatic
and imaginative performance, equal of any Panizza or Gavanezzi.
The orchestra are sensitive to his direction and they don't
sound out of place the way you might imagine them to be. The
overture floats like gossamer in the opening and turns bitter
sweet at the end, beginning the opera on a high note. In every
other place after the conducting is flexible and the pacing exemplary.
Yelizaveta Shumskaya (or
Elizabeta Shumskaya as she was also spelt) was a
mainstay at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre and was basically a lyric
dramatic, capable of vast amounts of shading with quite
a large nevertheless. Her voice is full of femininity and is quite believable
in the role of Violetta, even from bottom to top except for the
very high notes which find her straining occasionally. Her
interpretation is full of little interesting deviations from the
score, such as the end of her Sempre libera where she
interpolates not a high E-flat but a C instead, and the big
ritenuto when she sings
Ah, perche' venni,
incauta! Pieta' di me, gran Dio!
in Act II.
Little touches such as these
The whole choral section that ends Act I Scene 1 (Si ridesta in
ciel l'aurora) is cut, incidentally, most frustratingly since
Verdi's little touch emphasizes the loneliness Violetta feels
after all that drink and song. In terms of characterization hers
is not an overtly dramatic one such as Callas, for example. But
the beauty of her instrument is undeniable, as is the musicality
of her interpretation.
Ivan
Semyonovich Kozlovsky is the Alfredo on this recording and it is
about him that many might find problems. His voice was
distinctive to a fault, standing out like a sore thumb, really.
Many will be familiar with what I mean through his Lensky, with
Orlov, available on Naxos 8.110216-17 (he sings a beautiful Lensky's Aria). With Alfredo
you expect an amount of heft even in the young voice, but
depending on how you take to Kozlovsky's voice, he sounds either
very young or indeed, effete. Half the time he sounds like he's
falsettoing, which is a little off-putting because he can
certainly sing full chest notes when he wants to
(ear-splittingly loud in fact, though whether this was due to
the placing of the microphones we'll never know). Certainly
whether you will enjoy his singing will depend on whether you
can get over this.
Many great things are said in the accompanying booklet (detailed
and a pleasure to read as always) about the baritone Pavel
Lisitsian, and he is one of the better voices here. His
voice is rich and balanced, ingratiating yet full of command and
power, fully worthy, as the notes say, of being in one of the
great opera houses of the world. His confrontation and
duet with Violetta in the second Act is not the most charged
emotionally but rather more restrained. Their voices play
off well against each other most effectively, though, and as
pure vocalization is a model of singing, really.
The rest of the opera is more exciting, involved and
dramatically effective. The party scene at Flora's starts off
coolly but quickly heats up after the gypsy chorus and the
matador chorus that comes after. Kozlovsky's voice still got in
the way of my enjoyment at the start, though he improves a lot
later, but Shumskaya is a pure joy here, acting out Violetta to
perfection. Each time she appears her voice lights up the
proceedings with its sheer beauty. What a singer she was!
Starting with Invitato a qui seguirmi, verra deso? -
where the two lovers confront each other the action becomes
super-heated - the exchange between Shumskaya and Kozlovsky is
irresistible.
Overall this is a worthy version of Traviata for those already
familiar with the Italian and willing to try something
different. Lisitsian and Shumskaya are excellent singers in full
command of their voices, no doubt, your mileage may vary with
Kozlovsky. If this were in Italian it would have been more
recommendable as a mainstream recording but the quality of the
singers makes it more than a mere novelty. As a bonus, we have
four tracks of Verdi arias sung by Lisitsian, stylishly and with
that same rock-like voice. The sound is quite listenable and
will not pose problems for most. Recommended!
