Search - Anton Rubinstein, Alexander Melik-Pashaev, Bolshoi Theater Orchestra :: Anton Rubinstein: The Demon

Astounding music in riveting performances

G.D. | Norway | 11/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a marvelous work this is! Anton Rubinstein might not have been a great composer in general, but this work certainly shows that he was able to come up with gold. Stylistically, you can take the best of Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov - The Demon is atmospheric, superbly scored and built on truly memorable material. There are themes here that will linger in memory, and scenes of breath-taking beauty, dazzling brilliance and dark, granitic power and drama. This opera is, in short, worthy of comparison with the very best of Russian opera, and anyone even remotely interested are advised to buy, beg or borrow this set.



The performance on offer here is scintillating. The singing is thoroughly superb, all roles; Alexey Ivanov is darkly dramatic and Talachadze utterly riveting, but it is still Kozlovsky who steals the show - stunning (in particular the ensembles are riveting, powerfully urgent, almost frenziedly dramatic). Still, what really makes this performance so great is first and foremostly the fervor and power of the choral singing and - not the least - the sweep and drama of Melik-Pashaev's conducting an Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre on top form.



The sound is slightly problematic; it has a wide dynamic range at least, and much noise has been removed. But this is still a 1950s Soviet production, and not at its best either - the sound picture is flat and distortion is not avoided in the louder passages. Still, one doesn't really pay that much attention when the drama is as white-hot as here (the sound doesn't manage to occlude the darkly radiant power and dramatic sweep of those) and the music so overwhelmingly powerful and wonderful. I haven't heard any alternative performance, but despite the possibly better sound I cannot imagine any of them being even close to this one. Urgently recommended."