Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
The Queen of Spades [Pikovaya Dama/Pique Dame] (1890)
Hermann – Valdimir Atlantov (tenor)
Count Tomsky – Sergei Leiferkus (baritone)
Count Yeletsky – Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone)
Countess – Maureen Forrester (contralto)
Lisa – Mirella Freni (soprano)
Pauline – Katherine Ciesinski (mezzo)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa
rec. live, October 1991, Symphony Hall, Boston & Carnegie Hall, New York
RCA 88697527712 [3 CDs: 155]
Seiji Ozawa had an affinity with Tchaikovsky and in particular his two most important operas Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. The concert performances contained in this recording were one of the more exciting occasions to be scheduled in Ozawa’s later tenure with the Boston Symphony. The fact that the recording was able to be released was something of a small miracle considering the problems that arose during this series of performances which make for an interesting anecdote in operatic history.
Once the very promising cast (at least on paper) was announced three performances were scheduled in Boston Symphony Hall with the plan that RCA would record the three evenings and edit the recording together solely from Boston. There was also a final performance scheduled in Carnegie Hall (October 26, 1991) for New York audiences that was not planned to be part of the recording. As it turned out the first two performances yielded less usable takes than the producers had hoped for. Disaster then struck on the day of the final Boston performance when Mirella Freni became ill and had to withdraw. Unfortunately the only soprano available to save the performance knew the role of Lisa but only in in Italian. This resulted in a bilingual performance that without Freni was mostly unusable in the final recording. To salvage things it became necessary for the entire recording team to travel to New York and set up their equipment in Carnegie Hall. Because the sound of the two halls was so vastly different, it meant that the final recording is primarily taken from that Carnegie Hall evening. The Boston takes were only used to fix small patches where errors occurred. When one listens to the performance contained on these CDs it is quite amazing that it all comes together as beautifully as it does. There is no sense of the strain everyone must have felt under the circumstances.
The cast is an exceptionally polished one. Vladimir Atlantov is in ringing voice and he sustains a febrile, impassioned performance of Herman. This is his third and final recording of a role that he had been singing for 25 years. The passing years have barely touched his voice in any negative way. His tenor is firm, burnished and his interpretation has increased in subtleties with the passage of time, at least when you compare this to his 1970s Melodiya recording under Mark Ermler (once available on CD from Philips). He captures both the officer’s ardour for Lisa and his gradual descent into the gambling obsession which is Herman’s ultimate downfall. This is a fine document of a major star in his most famous role.
Mirella Freni was new to the role of Lisa in 1991. She had benefitted from the advice of her husband Nicolai Ghiaurov on singing Russian roles. Tatyana (Eugene Onegin) and Lisa became two of her most important and well-loved late career achievements. By the time this was recorded, studio microphones were revealing all too clearly that her voice could sound stressed, especially in her top register. Happily there is little sign of that here on this occasion. The performers were all placed on a raised stage, slightly distant from the microphones and the benefit is to Freni’s advantage. She sounds truly large-scale and her voice expands impressively to fill the Carnegie Hall acoustic without any hint of strain. Her ability to sing with a direct sincerity is undiminished, and her performance of Lisa’s two major arias is quite touching, without verging on the melodramatic. This is in my opinion the choicest of her late career recordings.
Maureen Forrester’s Old Countess was a performance which I had the pleasure to see in-person in more than one production over the years. She was a wonderfully creepy-sounding Countess and in one production I recall that because her appearance as the ghost in the barracks scene was amplified, she actually sang those lines an entire octave lower than marked in the score, albeit in English. It was a truly sepulchral experience. While she doesn’t repeat that feat here, what she does do is something that was common to all of her performances, which I have yet to hear another singer attempt in the same way. That is to deliver a full death rattle at the moment the Countess expires. It is quite theatrical and riveting although one has to listen carefully for it because she is just slightly out of range of the microphones at that point. From my many years of working with hospital patients I can attest that she gets it absolutely correct. Her singing of the little Grétry aria is utterly enthralling. Forrester’s Countess is a stand-out interpretation of this role which, while not very large, is absolutely central to the success of the opera.
Sergei Leiferkus delivers a strong virile-sounding Tomsky. His tone is a little gruff and suits the officer perfectly especially as he forms a good contrast to the more patrician Prince Yeletsky, who is sung by the same voice type. Here Yeletsky is performed by the silken-voiced baritone of the young Dmitri Hvorostovsky, barely two years after winning of the BBC Cardiff Young Singers of the World Competition. Suddenly he had a recording contract and international recognition. On this occasion his performance of the aria is carefully shaped with elegant vocal lines and a burnished copper tone which benefits from the live acoustic of the auditorium. The two baritones really set the seal of excellence on these CDs.
Katherine Ciesinski’s Pauline is a perfectly satisfactory protrayal although she is not alone among mezzos in not being able to convey the youthful exuberance of this character. Her vocal timbre is pleasing but not quite of the star quality of the other five principals. The small roles are all taken by artists who sing their roles with fresh sound and no major wobblers are evident among them.
Seiji Ozawa conducts a carefully shaped reading of Tchaikovsky’s brooding, emotional score. He aims more for musical refinement (a la von Karajan) than energized and driven (I am thinking here of Solti). Even so, in the really big moments he will surprise the listener with a sudden burst of freedom but without any sense that he is steering these sections into overdrive. The Boston Symphony musicians play with silky smoothness for him and the balance between the orchestra and singers is quite perfect, a rare thing for a live concert. This is partly attributable to the unusual platform stage that was erected above and behind the orchestra which allowed for semi-staged action to take place. Little movement of the principals is in evidence on the final recording with the exception of the thumping around of the children’s marching chorus in Act One. The Tanglewood Chorus have been well-prepared for this assignment. They have a beautiful, well-tuned sound. The only drawback is that they do not sound even the slightest bit like a typically earthy-sounding Russian Choir. This and too well-disciplined children’s choir strike an inauthentic note. (Although the children do at least mange to put across an enthusiastic sense of playfulness when they are scrambling together to sing their little marching song). Their junior general is quite excellent in shouting some very authentically Russian sounding commands.
While this recording is one of the more vivid accounts of The Queen of Spades, it is probably outclassed by one or two studio versions, particularly when it comes to balancing sounds and perspectives. This one does have a lot to offer the listener and in my experience it is the best opera recording ever made in the difficult recording venue of Carnegie Hall. One is hardly aware of the presence of the audience or even the fact that the principals were walking about on a stage. While this series of performances had some definite obstacles to deal with, the listener is blissfully unaware of them when hearing the final product.
Mike Parr
This recording also receives a positive assessment in Ralph Moore’s survey of the work.
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Other cast
Chekalinsky – Ernesto Gavazzi (tenor)
Surin – Julian Rodescu (bass)
Chaplitsky – Denis Petersen (tenor)
Narumov – Jorge Chaminé (bass)
Governess – Janis Taylor (mezzo)
Masha – Dominique Labelle (soprano)
Major-Domo – Richard Clement (tenor)
Prilepa/Chloë – Dominique Labelle (soprano)
Milovzor/Daphnis – Katherine Ciesinski (mezzo)
Zlatogor/Pluto – Sergei Leiferkus (baritone)
