Rimsky-Korsakov Christmas Eve opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2021-2022 by Christof Loy at Oper Frankfurt. Stars Georgy Vasiliev (Vakula), Julia Muzychenko (Oksana), Enkelejda Shkoza (Solokha), Alexey Tikhomirov (Chub), and Andrei Popov (Devil). Sebastian Weigle conducts the Frankfurter Opern-und Museumsorchester and the Chor der Oper Frankfurt (Chorus Master Tilman Michael). Set design by Johannes Leiacker, costumes by Ursula Renzenbrink; lighting by Olaf Winter; choreography by Klevis Elmazaj; flight choreography by Ran Arthur Braun; dramaturgy by Maximilian Enderle. Directed for TV by Myriam Hoyer. Sung in Russian. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
I saw some of this on streamed on OperaVision. I wasn’t that wild about the plot or the streamed video images. But the music is absolutely arresting. The slipped disc, Norman Lebrecht, is still around. Here’s his brilliant summary of this production:
“The composer saw nature as an image of the divine – and thus as something absolutely worth preserving. He added mythological elements of pagan folk belief; he has stars dancing in the sky and the apparition of human-looking sun gods. The composer shows the meaningfulness and beauty of a cosmos in whose biological and seasonal rhythms human beings are suspended – in this production quite literally. This rendition of Christmas Eve won OpernWelt’s Production of the Year 2021/22.”
Steven Jude Tiejen also gave this a glowing review at pages 56-57 of the June 2023 Opera News. He says,” Lay maintains the fantastical, tongue-in-cheek satire of both Gogo’s short story and Rimsky-Korsakov’s score and enlivens it with sparkling modernity and a light hand.”
Finally, I note this was short by for TV by Myriam Hoyer, who is one of the best videographers working now on files that might be produced in Blu-ray.
This appears to be a must-have item for fans of Russian opera. Here are some impressive trailers showing how beautiful all this is:
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