Programs · Episode

GLINKA: Ruslan and Lyudmila

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, May 13, 2023 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Glinka's opera has a famously rollicking overture — and the rest of the drama keeps the action going strong.  Based on a poem by Pushkin, it might be called an "epic frolic" — a lush but lighthearted romp, through a world of fantastic adventures and fairytale love.  AT THE OPERA features two recordings from the Bolshoi Theatre: One from 2003, starring Ekaterina Morozova and led by Alexander Vedernikov, and one from 1979, with Bela Rudenko as Lyudmila and led by Yuri Simonov.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

What do you think of when someone mentions Russian opera?  Most likely, it's something somber and dark, and with good reason.  The most famous of Russian operas include Mussorgsky's grim historical epic Boris Godunov, along with Tchaikovsky's pair of bleak psychodramas The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin, operas with an epic quality of their own.

And those three, popular dramas have something specific in common with plenty of other Russian operas.   All three are based on works by Alexander Pushkin — not most people's idea of leisurely reading.  Yet there is one great Russian opera, also inspired by Pushkin, that occupies far lighter territory of the dramatic spectrum.

Mikhail Glinka is often credited as the founder of the Russian opera tradition. Ruslan and Lyudmila was Glinka's second opera, and also his last.  It appeared in 1842, after six years in the making, and it is based on a Pushkin epic.  But this one might well be called an epic frolic — a lush yet lighthearted romp through a world of fantastic adventures and fairytale love.  The story sweeps its way across the vast Russian landscape, depicting a furious conflict between good and evil.  But when it all shakes out, this epic features far more fun than furor.

Glinka’s opera follows Pushkin's original fairly closely — the whole plot is there, and then some.  The opera may come up short of fully capturing the poem’s astonishing dramatic flow, but that would have been a tall order.  Pushkin's epic is a real page turner, with disparate elements of the story tumbling over each other at a breakneck pace.  The opera is more a series of related set pieces, and it probably didn’t help that the scenario was reportedly devised, by a buddy of Glinka’s, "in a quarter of an hour while he was drunk."  Yet Glinka’s musical contribution is beautiful throughout, conjuring lively characters and vivid theatrical images, even when the action itself occasionally slows to a trot.

On At the Opera, Lisa Simeone brings us highlights of two recordings, both from the Bolshoi Theater: A live, 2003 recording featuring Ekaterina Morozova and led by Alexander Vedernikov, plus one from 1979, with Bela Rudenko as Lyudmila and conductor Yuri Simonov.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Alexander Vedernikov, conductor

Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus

CAST: Taras Shtonda (Ruslan); Ekaterina Morozova (Lyudmila); Vadim Lynkovsky (Svetosar); Aleksandra Durseneva (Ratmir); Vitaly Panfilov (Finn); Maria Gavrilova (Gorislava); Valery Gilmanov (Farlaf); Irina Dolzhenko (Naina); Maksim Paster (Bayan)

(PentaTone 5186 034)

Yuri Simonv, conductor

Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus

CAST: Bela Rudenko (Lyudmila); Yevgeny Nesterenko (Ruslan); Valery Yaroslavtsev (Svetosar); Tamara Sinyavskaya (Ratmir); Alexey Maslennikov (Finn); Nina Fomina (Gorislava); Boris Morozov (Farlaf); Galina Borisova (Naina); Alexander Arkhipov (Bayan)

(BMG 74321 29348 2)

Playlist