Igor Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex; Les Noces (Valery Gergiev)

Information

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

• Les noces (dance cantata)
• Oedipus rex (opera-oratorio)

Mlada Khudoley; Olga Savova; Alexander Timchenko; Andrei Serov

Alexander Mogilevsky; Svetlana Smolina; Yulia Zaichkina; Maxim Mogilevsky

Gérard Depardieu; Sergei Semishkur; Ekaterina Semenchuk

Evgeny Nikitin; Mikhail Petrenko; Alexander Timchenko

Mariinsky Theater Orchestra & Chorus

Valery Gergiev, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Mariinsky

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

Les noces is the most emphatically Russian of Stravinsky’s early masterpieces, rooted in the soil and the customs of peasant weddings, and at least two recordings have put traditional Russian folksongs alongside. When Stravinsky’s 1962 recording of Les noces was made in the USA he said: “I wonder if Les noces can ever completely reveal itself to a non-Russian.” If that seems discouraging, then here is the real thing with the Mariinsky chorus and orchestra under Gergiev, recorded on their own label in the concert hall of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Right from the start, with soprano Mlada Khudoley’s incisive grace notes, there’s a rasping thrust that never lets up. Some of this is due to the Russian language as opposed to the smoother French text usually heard. Later on, the ecstatic frenzy is faster than Stravinsky or his markings but unfortunately there are times when the tenor and bass soloists get submerged.

By the time of Oedipus Rex (1927) Stravinsky was a European taking on Western music from Handel to Verdi with kleptomaniac gusto. Oedipus also became known in an American recording under Stravinsky. The 1963 release had an all-star cast of soloists and an English narrator; later, Craft’s performance, supervised by Stravinsky, had an American narrator; and now, with the Mariinsky team, we have Cocteau’s original French, rather eccentrically delivered with some odd emphases.

This time the Russians are singing Latin but their timbre brings something special to this monumental Greek drama with its seductive Italianate melodies outlining horrific events. Of the soloists (photos but no biographies in the trilingual booklet) Ekaterina Semenchuk (Jocasta) sounds plummy at first but she and Sergei Semishkur (Oedipus) bring electrifying intensity to the duet where they realise their guilt. Overall this is a double-bill of at times shattering impact.

— Peter Dickinson

-----------------------------------------------------------

Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer. Son of an operatic bass, he studied privately with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov from 1902 to 1908. Soon after the impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to write three ballets for the Ballets Russes: Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The last of which, with its shifting and audacious rhythms, was a landmark in music history. Later Stravinsky also adopted Neoclassicism and serialism in his composition. His major Neoclassical works include Oedipus rex (1927) and the Symphony of Psalms (1930).

***

Valery Gergiev (born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor. Trained at the Leningrad Conservatory under Ilya Musin, he gained early recognition after winning the Herbert von Karajan Conductors' Competition. Gergiev built an international reputation through acclaimed opera and orchestral appearances, festival leadership and extensive recordings, while strengthening the Mariinsky Theatre's global stature. He also held major posts with leading orchestras in Rotterdam, London and Munich. His international career was significantly curtailed in 2022 following his refusal to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

-----------------------------------------------------------