Lady Macbeth von Mzensk

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk while not one of my absolute favourites is one of the greats when it comes to twentieth century opera. You can see why the opera caused controversy when first seen and heard, but I for one find it a highly interesting opera with magnificent music from Shostakovich, one of his best ever works actually. I was rather disappointed in this version, especially after seeing the brilliant 1969 film(incidentally titled Katerina Izmailova). A big debit was the staging of the final scene, which I found to be anti-climatic and not all that fitting with what the music was conveying. I didn't think also that it made much sense cutting out the scene with Boris' ghost, that scene adds so much to Katerina's haunted torment, and as well as giving the role some dimension I saw no real reason to not include it. The rest of the numerous cuts are not as bad, though a lot of the black humour of the opera is lost here. I didn't care for some the acting, Marketa Hrubesova has her moments but a lot of her performance reads of too much blankness and not enough fire. Michal Dlouhy is a little more consistent, but compared to the singing, like with Hrubesova actually, it lacks charisma. On the plus side, it is beautifully filmed with some very lush settings and subdued colour shadings. Petr Weigl- responsible for the masterpiece that is the 1988 Eugene Onegin- gives a stage direction that is on the most part haunting and erotic. The orchestral playing is rich and powerful, while Mistlav Rostropovich's conducting is intensely ecstatic. The singing is superb, Nicolai Gedda shows wonderful musicianship as well as a beautiful voice and aristocratic-like style and the singer of Boris is also good, but the star is Galine Vishnevskaya, whose singing of Katerina is hugely compelling, sympathetic and overall just astonishing. In conclusion, a disappointment but not a complete waste of time either. 6/10 Bethany Cox