Mikhail Glinka – Ruslan & Lyudmila (Gergiev) [1995]

Disc: 1
1. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Overture
2. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act One: No. 1 Introduction: 'Dela davno minuvsikh' (Chorus, Bayan, Farlaf, Ratmir, Svetozar, Rusland, Luydmila)
3. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act One: Est' pustnnyi kraj (Bayan, Chorus)
4. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act One: No. 2 Lyudmila's Cavatina: 'Grustno mne,k roditel' dorogoi!' (Lyudmila, Chorus)
5. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act One: No. 3 Finale: 'Chada rodimye!' (Chorus, Ruslan, Ratmir, Farlaf, Svetozar)
6. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act One: Chto sluchios: (Chorus, Ruslan, Ratmir, Farlaf, Svetozar)
7. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Two: No. 4 Entr'acte
8. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Two: No. 5 Finn's Ballad: Dobro pozhalovat', moi syn! (Finn, Ruslan)
9. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Two: No. 6 Duet Of Finn And Ruslan: Blagodaryu tebya, moi divnyi (Ruslan, Finn)
10. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Two: No.7 Scene And Farlaf's Rondo: Ya ves' drozhu' (Farlaf, Naina)
11. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Two: (Rondo) Blizok uz chas torzhestva moego (Farlaf)

Disc: 2
1. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Two: No. 8 Aria: O pole, pole! (Ruslan)
2. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Two: Dai, Perun, bulatnyi mech: (Ruslan)
3. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Two: No. 9 Scene With The Head: 'Kto zdes' bluzhdaet' (The Head, Ruslan)
4. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Two: No. 10 Finale: The Tale Of The Head: 'Nas bylo dvoe, brat moi ya' (The Head, Ruslan)
5. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 11 Entr'acte
6. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 12 Persian Chorus: 'Lozhitsya v pole mrak' (Chorus, Naina)
7. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 13 Gorislava's Scene And Cavatina: 'Kakie sladostnye zvuki' (Gorislava)
8. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 14 Ratmir's Aria: 'I zhar, i znoi smenila nochi ten' (Ratmir)
9. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 15 Dances
10. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: No. 16 Finale: 'O moi Ratmir! Ty zdes' opyat' (Gorislava, Ratmir, Chorus, Ruslan)
11. Ruslan and Lydumila: Act Three: Vityazi! Kovarnaya Naina: (Finn, Gorislava, Ratmir, Ruslan)

Disc: 3
1. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 17 Entr'acte
2. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 18 Scene And Aria: 'Vdali ot milogo' (Lyudmila, Chorus)
3. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: Akh ty dolya, dolyushka: (Lyudmila, Chorus)
4. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 19 March Of Chernomor
5. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 20 Oriental Dances: Turkish Dance (Allegretto)
6. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 20 Oriental Dances: Arabian Dance (Allegro con spirito)
7. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 20 Oriental Dances: Lesginka
8. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 21 Chorus: 'Pogibnet, nezhdannyj prishlets!' (Chorus)
9. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Four: No. 22 Finale: 'Pobeda, pobeda, Lyudmila' (Ruslan, Gorislava, Ratmir, Chorus)
10. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: No. 23 Entr'acte
11. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: No. 24 Ratmir's Romance: 'Ona mne zizn', ona mne radost!' (Ratmir)
12. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: No. 25 Recitative And Chorus: 'Vsyo tikho!' (Ratmir, Chorus)
13. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: No. 26 Duet Of Ratmir And Finn: 'Chto slyshu ya? Lyudmila net?' (Ratmir, Finn)
14. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: No. 27 Finale: 'Akh ty svet, Lyudmila!' (Chorus, Svetozar, Farlaf)
15. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: 'Kogo nam bogi shlyut?' (Chorus, Svetozar, Farlaf, Ruslan, Lyudmila, Ratmir)
16. Ruslan And Lyudmila: Act Five: 'Slava velikim bogam!' (Chorus, Lyudmila, Ratmir, Ruslan, svetozar, Gorislava) 

Lyudmila .............................. Anna Netrebko
Ruslan ................................. Vladmir Ognovienko
Svetosar ............................... Mikahil Kit
Ratmir.................................. Larissa Diadkova
Farlaf .................................. Gennady Bezzubenkov
Gorislava ............................... Galina Gorchakova
Finn ................................... Konstantin Pluzhnikov
Naina ................................. Irina Bogachova
Bayan .................................. Yuri Marusin

Valery Gergiev - Kirov Chorus and Orchestra, St. Petesburg

Let's start with the nitpicking here: this opera is not a particularly dynamic one in terms of setting and songs. It works basically by having one character doing his thing, leaving and another character doing his piece, sometimes for long periods of time. Even duets are a bit rare here, it works mainly as a succession of songs with little interactivity between the characters.

That being said the music is beautiful, really beautiful. The folk influences reveal an astounding depth of originality to the work and the birth of a whole new school of Russian music. In fact Glinka is the father of Russian music that will bring such joys to this list in the future. Much like Wagner creates the Teutonic music par excellence in Germany at this time so is Glinka doing the same for Russia.

The setting is an appropriately fairytaley pre-historic pagan Russia and there are giants, dwarves, sorcerers, witches, brave warriors and enchanted princesses. The whole thing has an air of the fantastic about it and the music is extremely evocative. The Russian obsession with "Orientalism" is already present in this work, the use of Eastern folk elements actually adds to the whole ambience of the album. A beautiful work and a majority important one. ---1001classical.blogspot.com

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