Prokofiev - Betrothal in a Monastery (2006)

Betrothal in a Monastery ('The Duenna'), opera, Op. 86

Disc: 1
  1. Prelude
  2. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 1. But this is just fantasy!
  3. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 2. Plain. Round-shouldered
  4. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 3. She has shaken your hand
  5. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 4. The moon looks in your window
  6. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 5. Stop that mewing
  7. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 6. Masker's Dance
  8. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 7. I had better get her married off
  9. Act 1. Tableau 1. Scene 8. Friends, depart
  10. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 1. It will work, Nanny, won't it?
  11. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 2. Splendid, Señor, splendid
  12. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 3. Will you cherish me in my old age?
  13. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 4. Give it back!
  14. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 5. If you have a daughter
  15. Act 2. Tableau 2. Scene 6. It looks like the first act has been played out wi
  16. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 1. Buy some fish from Señor Mendoza's barges!
  17. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 2. Rosina... Rosina...
  18. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 3. Ferdinand alone is dearer
  19. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 4. I had known what pranks
  20. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 5. My beard? My beard is not at all bad
  21. Act 2. Tableau 3. Scene 6. There is no greater happiness
  22. Act 2. Tableau 4. Scene 1. Yes, yes, yes!
  23. Act 2. Tableau 4. Scene 2. My pretty... my pretty
  24. Act 2. Tableau 4. Scene 3. When the cheerful fop
  25. Act 2. Tableau 4. Scene 4. Well?

Disc: 2
  1. Act 3. Tableau 5. Scene 1. Ah, time does not want to move on
  2. Act 3. Tableau 5. Scene 2. Come in, come in
  3. Act 3. Tableau 5. Scene 3. Should we take a sly look?
  4. Act 3. Tableau 5. Scene 4. It's bad to peep
  5. Act 3. Tableau 5. Scene 5. How my soul is beaming!
  6. Act 3. Tableau 6. Scene 1. You are not playing in tune
  7. Act 3. Tableau 6. Scene 2. My respectful greetings to the Señor!
  8. Act 3. Tableau 6. Scene 3. Please, let us continue
  9. Act 3. Tableau 6. Scene 4. Lopez! Lopez!
  10. Act 3. Tableau 7. Scene 1. Here I am, a nun
  11. Act 3. Tableau 7. Scene 2. They have gone, gladdened, happy and in love...
  12. Act 3. Tableau 7. Scene 3. It must be here
  13. Act 4. Tableau 8. Scene 1. The bottle is the sun of our lives
  14. Act 4. Tableau 8. Scene 3. They bring more wine!
  15. Act 4. Tableau 8. Scene 4. Take care, Antonio!
  16. Act 4. Tableau 8. Scene 5. Straight down to business now, Don Ferdinand
  17. Act 4. Tableau 9. Scene 1. I can't understand it
  18. Act 4. Tableau 9. Scene 2. Aha, here's Mendoza at last
  19. Act 4. Tableau 9. Scene 3. What is this? Why are you here?
  20. Act 4. Tableau 9. Scene 4. Son! At last
  21. Act 4. Tableau 9. Scene 5. Don Jerome, Don Herome!

Don Jerome - Viacheslav Voynarovskiy,
Ferdinand - Andrey Breus,
Louisa - Lyubov Petrova,
The Duenna - Alexandra Durseneva,
Antonio - Vsevolod Grivnov,
Clara - Nino Surguladze,
Mendoza - Sergei Alexashkin

The Glyndebourne Chorus
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski - conductor

Recorded live at Glyndebourne on 12, 15 & 22 August 2006.

Prokofiev wrote Betrothal in a Monastery in less than three months, in the midst of the turmoil of 1940. The opera is similar in some ways to his only other comedy, Love for Three Oranges, written in 1919. They are based on nearly contemporaneous late eighteenth century plays with plots that are patently absurd, for which Prokofiev provided music of matching whimsicality. Both scores are jumpy, kaleidoscopic, and unpredictable. Love for Three Oranges is a fairy tale and its music is altogether spikier, while Betrothal in a Monastery, a comedy of manners set in Seville, is clearly late Prokofiev, with the idiom of Romeo and Juliet crazily skewed and fragmented. In the later opera, the music is consistently zany and entertaining, but it really takes off in the third and fourth acts and becomes genuinely memorable. This recording is taken from a 2006 Glyndebourne production directed by Daniel Slater and Robert Innes Hopkins that must have been a blast based on the frequent explosions of audience laughter. The entire cast (which is largely Russian) performs with complete mastery of the complex score and with the wild abandon needed to bring the far-fetched story fully to life. It's very much an ensemble piece and it succeeds because there are no weak links. Standouts include Lyubov Petrova, Andrey Breus, Vsevolod Grivnov, Alan Opie, and especially Viacheslav Voynarovskiy and Sergei Alexashkin as the primary schemers. Alexandra Durseneva, in the central role of the Duenna, does not have a conventionally beautiful voice, but she's ideal for the role of the old woman whose machinations finally bring the young lovers together. Vladimir Jurowski, the musical director of the festival, leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Glyndebourne Chorus in a vibrant and sparkling performance. The sound is excellent for a live recording, with good balance between the voices and orchestra. ---Stephen Eddins, AllMusic Review

Prokofiev composed his last complete opera, Betrothal in a Monastery, as the German Nazis were invading Russia and the country descended into a period of political repression and terror. However, the opera, a romantic comedy loosely based on Richard Sheridan's 1775 play, The Duenna, was according to Shostakovich `one of Prokofiev's most radiant and buoyant works'. Betrothal in a Monastery highlights the cultural divisions between the faded glamour of the impoverished aristocracy and the new wealth of the lower classes. Ostensibly the plot concerns the trials of two pairs of lovers, Louisa and Antonio, and Clara and Ferdinand, but ultimately it is the fishmonger, Mendoza, who in the great tradition of the anti-hero, wins our empathy. ---amazon.com

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