Shostakovich - The Gamblers
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Label: Brilliant Classics
Cat No: 9181
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 31st May 2010
Contents
Artists
Nikolai KurpePiotr Gluboky
Vyacheslav Pochapsky
Alexander Arkhipov
Mikhail Krutikov
Nikolai Reshetniak
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra
Conductor
Andrey ChistiakovWorks
The Gamblers, op.63Artists
Nikolai KurpePiotr Gluboky
Vyacheslav Pochapsky
Alexander Arkhipov
Mikhail Krutikov
Nikolai Reshetniak
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra
Conductor
Andrey ChistiakovAbout
Written in 1942, the turbulent year of the epic 7th symphony ‘The Leningrad’, The Gamblers occupied the composer almost constantly. The work is characterised by an acidic black humour. There are no heroes, and no women. The unprincipled card-sharks are believed to represent the world leaders Chamberlain, Stalin and Mussolini playing a game of high stakes with Hitler’s Germany – the result of which is Russia being invaded.
Shostakovich followed Gogol’s text word for word – he didn’t need a libretto, as he later commented. He soon realised that The Gamblers would never be performed, as the satirical treatment of the Gogol story would land him in the Gulag. In spite of pleas from friends to complete the opera well after Stalin’s death, he refused saying ’one should not step into the same river twice’. The surviving 1st Act needed only a 3 page ending to complete it, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky supplied the missing material and conducted the premiere in 1978.
‘the acute characterisation that Shostakovich brings to Gogol's offhand narrative, and the music's often startling originality accord it far more than mere curiosity value. Voices are prominent, ensuring clarity in this very human drama.’ - Gramophone, January 1998
Cast:
- Ikharev: Nikolai Kurpe
- Gavryushka: Piotr Gluboky
- Alexei: Vyacheslav Pochapsky
- Krugel: Alexander Arkhipov
- Shvokhnyev: Mikhail Krutikov
- Uteshitelny: Nikolai Reshetniak
Original, unfinished version.
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