DARGOMIZHSKY : RUSALKA

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 24th of October 2010 at 3.04 - 6 pm 

INTRODUCTION
RECORDING 
REVIEW
EXCERPTS
RUS(S)ALKA(S)

DARGOMIZHSKY: Russalka, an opera in three acts
Natasha (Russalka)....... Evelina Dobraceva
The Miller..................... Arutjun Kotchinian
The Prince..................... Vsevolod Grivnov
The Princess.................. Marina Prudenskaya
Olga.............................. Elena Bryleva
Hunter/Matchmaker...... Andrey Telegin
Rusalochka................... Martha Jurowski
WDR Radio Chorus & Orch, Cologne/Michail Jurowski

This is a commercial recording (Naxos). I think it is performed in German not the original Russian (even though the cast consists of Eastern Europeans). The heading RUS(S)ALKA(S) leads to the section on Dvorak's Rusalka, and the notes on operas about this kind of water maiden. The stories are not the same in these two operas by A.D. and A.D.

The Russian composer Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813-69) subsequently composed The Stone Guest. Does that ring a bell (a doorbell)? I recently saw the Italian movie I(o), Don Giovanni, which begins with a large statue being transported along the canals of Venice; it is an account of Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfi Mozart producing Don Giovanni. Not surprisingly, this Russian opera has the characters Don Juan, Leporello (his servant), Donna Anna, and the stone statue of the Commander who comes to dinner as the nemesis of Don Juan.