by Adriel Bettelheim

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was unfairly labeled old-fashioned at a time when Wagner and the Italian verismo composers were extending the boundaries musical drama.  You can understand why listening for the first time to his ninth opera, “The Tsar’s Bride.” The bloody, true life tale of politics, lust and jealousy unfolds slowly in a series of bracing ensemble pieces and not-particularly-memorable solo arias that don’t quite hang together.  The minor-key melodies and dark bass lines seem more like stock Slavic gestures than original or compelling theater.

Yet the opera, which premiered in 1899, allows its characters to display an unusually wide range of emotions and paints some forward-looking psychological portraits.  Listen to the heroine Marfa get swept from her tranquil family life in 16^th century small-town Russia and the conspiracy-filled world of Ivan the Terrible’s henchmen and you will find parallels with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, or even some of Janacek’s displaced and vulnerable women.  Rimsky was a savvy man of the theater who knew how to draw out contrasts between dark and light, but did it in a traditional idiom inspired by folk art with brilliant, virtuostic orchestration.  No wonder that “The Tsar’s Bride” has proved a surprising hit on the rare occasions when it is performed outside of Russia.  The epic sweep and scheme-filled plots will resonate with anyone who enjoys “Boris Godunov” or “Khovanschina.”

The story pivots around the tsar’s henchman Griaznoi and his obsession with Marfa.  Griaznoi unsuccessfully tries to woo her away from her fiancée Lykov, then obtains a love potion to do the job.  His spurned mistress, Lubacha, takes revenge by selling herself for a potion that will disfigure the pretty girl, and substitutes the balm for the love elixir.  In the end, the tsar himself selects Marfa for his wife not knowing she has been poisoned. Griaznoi kills Lubacha, and Marfa, in the great soprano tradition, goes mad.

This Harmonia Mundi-Le Chant Du Monde release of a 1992 Bolshoi production lacks the star power of Valery Gergiev’s 1999 Philips recording, which featured Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Olga Borodina as Giaznoi and Marfa.  However, the Bolshoi’s rendering boasts a balanced cast that makes the interplay between the opera’s half dozen major characters more palpable.  Conductor Andrey Chistiakov does not rush things, choosing to highlight instrumental colors and the generally lush orchestration.  Though there are some abrupt entrances and occasional sloppy intonation in the brass, his well-considered take works at key moments, such as in the choruses of the tsar’s opritchniks, sung convincingly by the Sveshnikov Russian Academic Choir.

As Griaznoi, baritone Vladislav Verestnikov is suitably sinister with a dark, muscular sound that is well-suited to the role’s declamatory style.  Ekaterina Kudriavchenko sings the role of the ill-fated Marfa with a steely tone and a brittle top that sets one on edge. Bass Piotr Gluboky is wonderfully sonorous as her father, Sobakin, pumping out some exceptional low notes in a fourth act aria lamenting his daughter’s illness.  Nina Terentieva displays a smoky mezzo and wide vibrato as the scheming Lubacha, while tenor Arkady Mishenkin is pleasantly lyric, if a little nasal, as Lykov.

The recorded sound is somewhat thin and dry, though the all-important bass comes through clearly in instrumental solos and big choral numbers.  The informative libretto has separate French, English and German sections but lacks the original Russian text, even in transliteration.  Listeners who only know Rimsky through Scheherazade or his more popular opera, The Golden Cockerel, will find this a worthy addition to their collections, revealing much to admire about this misunderstood composer.

 

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