Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin opera to libretto by the composer and K. Shilovsky based on the verse novel by Alexander Pushkin. Directed 2008 by Dmitri Tcherniakov at the Paris Opera. Stars Mariusz Kwiecien (Eugene Onegin), Makvala Kasrashvili (Madame Larina), Tatiana Monogarova (Tatiana), Margarita Mamsirova (Olga), Emma Sarkisyan (The Nurse), Andrey Dunaev (Lenski), Anatolij Kotscherga (Prince Gremin), and Valery Gilmanov (Zaretski). Also stars the Bolshoi Theatre Soloists. Alexander Vedernikov conducts the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus (Chorus Master Valery Borisov). Set design by Dmitri Tcherniakov; costume design by Maria Danilova; lighting design by Gleb Filshtinsky. Directed for TV by Chloé Perlemuter; produced by François Duplat. Sung in Russian. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
When Tcherniakov was young he directed in 2006 a new Onegin at the Bolshoi that replaced a more-than-40-year-old production. Tcherniakov’s updated and realistic take downplayed the Russian character of the Pushkin’s poem in favor of timeless, universal, and human aspects of the story. The Bolshoi packed up this controversial but mostly well-received show and took it to the Paris Opéra. There it ran for several weeks in 2008, was filmed, and came out promptly as a DVD with stereo sound. Per PR, it has now been “remastered” and published as an HDVD in Blu-ray. Sure sounds like a legacy recording at this point that likely should be excluded from this website. But 2008 was the time when HDVD recordings were first being made. It’s possible that a digital film in HD video with surround sound has existed for the last 11 years. And we can’t think of anyone better suited than Kwiecien in 2008 to sing Eugene.
So we decided to post this provisionally. The artwork on the keepcase looks good, but is not trustworthy. If you have seen this BelAir Blu-ray, please let us know if it benefits from HD video and surround sound or if it’s really a DVD imposter.
Print critics of this production in DVD were often highly favorable: see, for example, the ArkivMusic story on this for two glowing reviews. And we have a level-headed review from Mark Pullinger in the March 2020 Gramophone at pages 91-93, although, as usual, you can’t tell from the review if Pullinger watched the DVD or the HDVD. Pullinger has smoked the peace-pipe with Tcherniakov as to his transgressions in yanking the story out of Puskin’s marvelous depiction of Russian society in the early nineteenth-century. Pullinger is also lavish in his praise for the singers who “clearly buy into Tcherniakov’s ideas”, especially Kwiecien, who portrays “a magnetic Onegin, cold, aloof and wonderfully laconic, his smooth baritone adding to his allure” and Monogarova, who “makes the transition from awkward girl to imperious princess most impressvely.” The ever-perceptive Steven Jude Tietjen also lauds this production in the July 2020 Opera News (pages 40-41) where he holds that Tcherniakov makes Makvala Kasrashvili the “life force” of the opera with her “blazing and emotionally raw portrayal” of Madame Larina. Tietjen further approves Kwiecien’s interpretation, especially his “ferocious embrace” of Onegin’s desperation in the final scene, and conductor Vedernikov’s reading of the score that “reflects the complex emotional lives unraveling in Tcherniakov’s production.“
This would seem to be a good title for anyone who knows the traditional Pushkin story well and wants to see a skillful update. Or if you know nothing about Pushkin, you might be perfectly happy with Tcherniakov’s psychologically pungent treatment.
Below are 2 YouTube clips: the 1st is the DVD from 2008. The 2nd clip appears to be from the same production; the video is much better (but not outstanding by 2020 standards).
Now comes the DVD trailer:
And next below is an updated trailer:
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