Mikhail GLINKA (1804 - 1857)
Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar) (1836)
Nicola Ghiuselev (bass) - Ivan Susanin; Elena Stoyanova (soprano) - Antonida,
Susanin’s daughter; Hristina Angelakova (mezzo-soprano) - Vanya, an
orphan; Roumen Doikov (tenor) - Bogdan Sobinin, Antonida’s bridegroom;
Nicolai Stoilov (bass) - A Russian soldier; Angel Petkov (tenor) - A Polish
messenger; Dimiter Stanchev (bass) - Sigismund III, King of Poland
Sofia National Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Ivan Marinov
rec. August 1986, Bulgaria Concert Hall
BRILLIANT OPERA COLLECTION 94220 [3 CDs: 75:36 + 61:25 + 63:05]
“Glinka belonged to, or rather founded, the Russian national school
of opera. He was also the first Russian composer who set Russian music on
the European musical map. He travelled widely in Europe, met both Bellini
and Donizetti in Milan and it is possible to hear an influence from them in
this, the first of his two operas. There are several arias that have a typical
Italian bel canto cantilena. He was also influenced by Rossini; vocally
if not dramatically. Sobinin’s part seems modelled after Arnold in Guillaume
Tell with its extremely high-lying tessitura and need for power and brilliance.
Still it is the Russian element that dominates this score, not least in the
important choral parts. It’s also characteristic of much of the Russian
operatic legacy that the chorus, the Russian people, play such an important
part. He might have learnt something from Rossini, Guillaume Tell again,
but essentially the patriotic feeling paired with an easily recognizable Russian
tone was his pioneering contribution to Russian music. This element became
part and parcel of the Russian operatic tradition, witness the operas of Mussorgsky,
Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov.
“Premiered in 1836, Ivan Susanin was an immediate success. When
before the first performance Glinka changed the title to A Life for the
Tsar the Tsar also took it to his heart, not surprisingly, and accepted
Glinka’s dedication. During the Soviet regime the subject of the opera
was not comme-il-faut but since it was regarded as a kind of national
opera the text was revised, on Stalin’s initiative, eliminating all
references to the Romanov dynasty. With the original title restored it was
played again at the Bolshoi in 1939. The revision also meant that parts of
the score were removed altogether.”
The above paragraphs are from my review of a Naxos reissue of a Bolshoi recording
originally set down in 1947 and 1950. With all the omissions mentioned it
had a playing time around 35 minutes shorter than the present recording, which
as far as I can understand is absolutely complete.
The action takes place in a village near Moscow and in a Polish army camp
in 1613. In the first act Ivan Susanin, a peasant, brings the news that the
Polish invaders are marching towards Moscow. This causes general alarm. His
son-in-law to be, the soldier Sobinin, comes home and reports that the Polish
forces have been defeated and a new Tsar elected. This also means that now
Sobinin and Antonida can be married. In act two a big ball is held in the
Polish camp. The officers learn that a new Tsar is to be crowned and plan
to kidnap him. In the third act, while the village people sing patriotic songs
about Russia’s victory and Susanin is planning his daughter’s
wedding, Polish soldiers arrive and try to force Susanin to show them where
the future Tsar is hidden. He agrees but decides to lead them astray and sends
his foster-son Vanya to warn the young Tsar. In the fourth act the soldiers
realise that Susanin has fooled them and he is killed. The epilogue takes
place in Moscow, in Red Square, where the people rejoice in the salvation
of the Tsar and mourn Susanin as a hero. Finally the Tsar arrives and is crowned.
The colourful music cries out for a spectacular recording and alas that is
not quite what it gets. Though fairly decent it is still a lacklustre sound,
the orchestra sounds dull and flat. This is damaging for the overture, not
anywhere near to the scintillating fireworks of the Ruslan and Luydmila
opening but still an atmospheric piece; but even more for the second act,
in the Polish camp, which in effect is a prolonged ballet sequence with very
little action. I don’t think the orchestral playing is to blame. The
conducting is at least workmanlike and the well-drilled Sofia chorus is really
excellent, in particular the female voices. The sound is homogenous and with
few sprawling voices sticking out - a far cry from the raw sounds of the old
Bolshoi recording. This is utterly important, since the chorus is in effect
the main protagonist. The focus is on the Russian people. There are even more
choral scenes here than in Boris Godunov, and the crowning glory is
the concluding jubilant double chorus (CD 3 tr. 12).
The solo singing is more variable. Elena Stoyanova, who sings Antonida, has
a basically beautiful voice but her heavy vibrato and shrill top notes in
the long run become rather tiring and there is very little tonal variety.
This Antonida is a very one-dimensional character. Her husband-to-be, Sobinin,
is a hellishly difficult role with high tessitura and several high Cs. Roumen
Doikov is a fighter and he has the stamina and the top notes, which are delivered
with amazing ease but the tone is bright and penetrating. That said, he can
sing softly at times and then the sound is quite agreeable. He also has the
measure of Sobinin’s fiendishly difficult act IV aria (CD 3 tr. 2).
It isn’t beautiful but he makes it, which is worth a minor celebration.
The only really successful recordings of that aria are with two Nordic singers,
Danish-born Helge Roswaenge, singing it in German in 1942 and the young Nicolai
Gedda in the original Russian from 1957.
The trouser role Vanya doesn’t appear until the beginning of act III
and then with a smile of recognition from the listener who has already heard
the theme in the overture. Hristina Angelakova has personality but also a
vibrato that borders on a wobble. Such is her identification with the role
and her dramatic power that, especially in the great scene in act IV (CD 3
tr. 3), one readily overlooks that defect.
In the title role we hear one of the foremost basses of the second half of
the 20th century, Nicola Ghiuselev. He was overshadowed by his
compatriot Nicolai Ghiaurov and the Russian Evgeny Nesterenko but he had a
long international career and recorded extensively. Here aged 50 the tone
is somewhat greyer than in recordings from the previous decades but his legato
singing is still exemplary as is his nobility of tone and he gives a rounded
and deeply moving portrait of the folk hero Ivan Susanin.
Of existing alternative recordings there is the aforementioned 1957 set under
Igor Markevitch with Christoff and Gedda. There’s another production
from Sofia 1989 under Emil Tchakarov with Boris Martinovich, Alexandrina Pendachanska,
Chris Merritt and Stefania Toczyska. The best of all categories is to my mind
a DVD from Bolshoi 1992 under Alexander Lazarev with Nesterenko, Marina Mescheriakova,
Alexander Lomonosov and Elena Zaremba.
However, at Brilliant Classics’ budget price - this recording was previously
available on Capriccio - this is a cheap way of getting to know the full score
of this historically important opera and with one of the great basses of the
not so distant past.
Göran Forsling
An inexpensive way of getting to know this historically important opera and
with one of the great basses of the not so distant past.
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