The Metropolitan Opera HD Live (TV Series) Borodin: Prince Igor (2014) User Reviews

Prince Igor makes a rare but triumphant return to the Met

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 2 March 2014]

The 8th season of the interesting Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series has so far been a very good one(even the weakest Tosca was not bad especially compared to the production it was revived from). Prince Igor does very little to break that very good standard. While it didn't sail completely smoothly and there will be some people confused with the concept(one of those that could both captivate or bewilder), it is perhaps the best of the season so far and on the whole a triumph. The opera's return here is a rare one, having not been performed at the Met for nearly a century. For its glorious music alone(the Overture, Vladimir's cavatina, Igor's aria and especially the Polovtsian dances) Prince Igor does deserve to be better known, but admittedly it is a problematic opera structurally and narratively with a fragmented feel and sometimes it is clear that the work was incomplete by Borodin's death.

On the whole this Met production is musically phenomenal- possibly the best of the season so far in this regard- and the concept is a clever one. There are a few personal complaints to be had. The choreography for the Polovtsian dances was fairly uninteresting and weird with a lot of flailing arms and not enough sensuality. To me also it didn't really fit with the style of the music and too contemporary in places. Stefan Kocan was uneven as Khan Konchak, his voice is mostly sonorous and has lyricism and well shaped phrasing, but there is also some unsteadiness and swooping here and there and his very bottom range is underpowered and growly. As an actor there is the sense of an accommodating host rather than a captor(Konchak is that essentially, it was refreshing to have an opera that had Galitsky as the villain rather than the Polovtsians) but along the way there is a lot of stock arm gestures and stolid presence. The cut of the overture is a shame but considering the idea of the production it wasn't as big an issue.

Visually, the production is kept simple with exception of the destroyed ruins in the third act which is a good thing. The prologue and second act set is large and imposing, a slightly stark colour but not inappropriately. The red poppies in the Polovtsian act(first) did initially seem trashy and incongruous, actually it was very dream-like and wonderfully surreal, and the vibrant colour did contrast surprisingly well with the rest of the production values. The costumes were handsome with the well-cared for soldier uniforms to the flowing white gowns for examples. The video directing and HD are consistently high in quality, and the projection images- while you do question the point of them, apart from making something interesting visually out of what was going on with the solo voice and chorus- are very harrowing.

The staging was impressive, with the only exceptions being the Polovtsian dances and the third act trio between Igor, Vladimir and Konchakovna where it is not clear where and when that scene is meant to be set. The final scene though is incredibly moving and the scenes between Galitsky and his men are wonderfully lewd. The prologue is also a rousing start. But the revelation actually was what was done with the characters and what they were thinking. Despite reservations, this production re-conceives the opera(not a problem at all considering the work's incompleteness and how it was literally a jumble of ideas when Borodin died) and makes it a psychological character study that came across affectingly and brilliantly. The revelations being with the characters Yaroslavana(at the beginning of Act 3 and her reactions to her brother Galitsky's treachery) and especially Igor(in his Act 1 aria and his Act 3 monologue).

Musically, it cannot be put into words how phenomenal the production was. The orchestral playing has bite and nuances as well as ravishing tone, rousing grandeur and silky phrasing. The chorus are similarly splendid in some of the most difficult chorus work they've ever had to do, the men(especially the boyars) sing with real sonority and the women's voices are soaring with not a shrill note in sight. GianAndrea Noseda's conducting sparkled with non-stop energy, the Polovtsian dances went at an electric tempo that you wish was matched by the choreography. Yet he never forgets about making the music sympathetic and grand, the solo female singing in the prologue(divinely sung), the opening chorus and again the Polovtsian dances. Ildar Abdrazakov is outstanding, giving some of the best singing and acting he has ever done. His voice is warm and firm that has presence all through the range, while his acting is authoritative and heart-breakingly poignant, Igor is a tormented character here and one we genuinely care for.

Oksana Dyka's Yaroslavna is dignified and moving, and she has a voice that has no problem in being heard, a little metallic in places but there is some real beauty and musical singing going on with her. Sergey Semiskur with his bright ringing tenor makes a promising Met debut(Vladimir's cavatina is sung beautifully) and Anita Rachvelishvilli sings powerfully and is appropriately seductive. Mikhail Petrenko doesn't have a powerful voice and it's a tad dry at times but he uses it with great character and sly vocal expression and he makes for a brilliantly lascivious Galitsky who you feel little but repulsion for. Vladimir Ognovenko and Andrey Popov(both of whom were seen early in the season in Shostakovich's The Nose) are both very characterful and amusing. Overall, a few flaws here and there but Prince Igor's return to the Met is a triumph. 9/10 Bethany Cox

As David Patrick Stearn Put It, Met Tries Conceptual Approach in a Rich, Confounding Igor

[jgcorrea · 6/10 · 1 March 2014]

Great music, wonderful singing (soloists and chorus), superb conductor, the Met orchestra at their best. As usual, everything fabulous. Only top pros could produce such euphonious beauty... amidst such conceptualized travesty! I am still trying, for example, to verify the relevance of the opening quote displayed on the screen: "Starting a war is the shortest way to combat internal distress" How this applies to Igor, whose country was invaded by Mongolian hordes, or to his enemy, whose megalomaniac imperialism motivated the attacks, there is no clue. The disconnection also applies to the haphazard, inconsistent melange of styles. "Prince Igor" is an opera more talked about than seen. It hadn't been staged since the days of Toscanini. For the benefit of those who are lucky enough to see it, I only wish it were "played straight". The Overture wasn't played at all. It was composed by Glazunov and, for that reason, omitted. This production starts with the Prologue, which is followed by Act II. Act I is omitted entirely. Acts III and IV were also subject to a heavy editorial process. I wish that this gem of an opera were presented without further conceptuality. I am increasingly frustrated by those "auteur" directors (e.g. Baz Luhrman, Gerald Thomas) ignorant of, or worse, regardless of style, costumes and period, perverting the composers' intentions by putting their egos far above Art. For the fans of the bizarre and the inchoate, however, this show was gratifying, the more so for including an hallucinogenic spectacle of the Polovetsian Dances: the whole thing read as the fantasy of a wounded warrior. Given that some of it WAS fantasy - the visit of Igor's wife, for instance - it makes sense that all of it MIGHT BE so, including the dancers who sprang up from the poppies. But these weird poppies get in the way of a lot of things, and spoil the dance while they're at it. Which is a Fokine classic, and in no way fits the subject matter. In the last scene, characters sing about going back to Russia, but from the set it appears they already ARE in Russia, so it's very confusing. Overall, a very mixed bag. The anti-war sentiment must ring especially true to modern day Russians living under the Putin administration. But the Met production, although obviously designed for the HD broadcast, makes dubious, or rather devious sense.