Search - Mussorgsky, Barodin, Glinka :: Bolshoi Gala

A recording any fan of Russian music must have.

09/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The only negative aspect of this recordind is the conducting of Peter Feranec. He is a fine professional conductor, but he is not able to present this very unique music. Now the soloists. We have some strong basses. V. Ognovenko is of course more of a bass-bariton, than a bass but he is a fine Boris Godunov. V. Matorin, on the other hand is a very good Ivan Susanin. He may sound more convincing in a theater (I heard him as Susanin in the Bolshoi on three ocasions), but just the richness of his voice is satisfacory. Baritones V. Redkin and P. Chernykh are both good artists, if not great vocalists. Sopranos L. Rudakova and M. Gavrilova (both international stars)show the wide vibrato, so charachteristic among russian vocalists. Mezzo T. Erastova (or more correctly Yerastova), also with a wide vibrato, uses her unique voice with skill. V. Tarastchenko is a good dramatic tenor, who is singing a wrong role."

The modern Bolshoi

moskvich | Moscow | 01/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording illustrates the new period of the Bolshoi. The singers chosen represent the new and old stars of the Bolshoi opera. The veterans include Artur Eisen, and the modern stars include Vladimir Matorin (Rightly considered the best Ivan Susanin of the ninties), Tatyana Yerastova, Vitaliy Tarashenko, Larisa Rudakova (who sang the Majic Flute at the met), Pavel Chernykh, Vladimir Redkin and Maria Gavrilova. Feranec, who is now replaced by Mark Ermler as the cheif conductor of Bolshoi orchestra, seems to follow the orchestra trained by Ermler, Lazarev and Svetlanov, instead of leading it. The chorus is spectacular."