Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila is a landmark work in the history of Russian opera, yet the number of complete recordings made of this work can be counted on one hand. This is in spite of Ruslan and Lyudmila's popular overture and a variety of oft-recorded excerpts derived from the opera. Part of the problem is textual, as the original Glinka manuscript was accidentally destroyed through means that are historically still rather murky. This new Pentatone recording is the first to benefit from a new critical ...
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Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila is a landmark work in the history of Russian opera, yet the number of complete recordings made of this work can be counted on one hand. This is in spite of Ruslan and Lyudmila's popular overture and a variety of oft-recorded excerpts derived from the opera. Part of the problem is textual, as the original Glinka manuscript was accidentally destroyed through means that are historically still rather murky. This new Pentatone recording is the first to benefit from a new critical edition of Ruslan and Lyudmila prepared by Russian musicologists Nadezhda Taterina and Evgeny Lavashev, a condition explained in detail in a confusingly translated portion of the massive 183-page booklet that comes with this set.Apart from the confusing booknote, everything else about this set is something to write home to "Mom" about, especially if she lives in Russia. The recording, made at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, is absolutely stunning -- you really feel as though you are at the...
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