Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko (2-DVD) – Aida Garifullina

Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Artists: Nazhmiddin Mavlyanov, Aida Garifullina, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Yuri Minenko, Stanislav Trofimov, Mikhail Petrenko, Maxim Paster, Dmitry Ulianov, Alexey Nekludov, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, Sergey Murzaev, Roman Muravitsky, Alexandra Durseneva, Vladimir Komovich, Irina Rubtsova, Bolshoi Theatre of Russia Orchestra & Chorus
Conductor: Timur Zangiev
Director: Dmitri Tcherniakov
Video Format: DVD9 NTSC
Sound Format: 2.0 PCM
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English, French, German, Korean, Japanese
Region: All Regions
Number of Discs: 2
Studio: Bel Air Classiques
DVD Release Date: November 12, 2021
Run Time: 186 minutes

In the 13th century, the rich merchants of Novgorod mock the dreams of far-away journeys and of commercial conquests brought forth by Sadko, a musician and singer. But Volkhova, the Sea King’s daughter, is enchanted by Sadko’s voice, and promises to help him fulfill his dreams... 

Sadko is a decisive work in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s aesthetic evolution. As in many operas, the composer draws his artistic material from Russian folk and fairytales, but also from old musical and poetic forms. The result is a prodigious opera, whose modernity – both dramatic and musical – erupts from the fabulous resources of traditional Russian epics, but also from the wonders of the marine universe, close to the composer’s heart as a former navigator. 

A subtle analyst of the slavic soul, stage director Dmitri Tcherniakov comes back to the great stage of the Bolshoi Theater and devises a surprising production that perfectly underlines the ambiguities of this paradoxical opera, between past and present, fantasy and reality. He surrounds himself with some of his favorite singers, including magnificent Russian soprano Aida Garifullina. In the pit and at the head of the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, young Russian conductor Timur Zangiev breathes into this little-known masterpiece all the energy, all the poetry, and all the passion it requires.

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