Opera Scotland

Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh 1995Kirov Opera, Leningrad

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For the 1995 Edinburgh International Festival, the Kirov brought two impressive stagings of little known Rimsky works to the Festival Theatre. Both pieces were long - Sadko an incoherent if enjoyable folk-tale, Kitezh a fascinating meditative piece from near the end of his career - the last opera before the very different Golden Cockerel.

For Kitezh, the production was beautifully staged, in an entirely traditional style, but with unusually atmospheric lighting. Galina Gorchakova just managed to get through her performance (but would drop out of her first night of Sadko the following week). Sergei Naida was a wonderful substitute Vsevolod at both performances (Vladimir Galuzin being indisposed). Marina Shaguch was in glorious voice for the second performance. Okhotnikov sang nobly as Yuri, well supported by Putilin as Fyodor and the character tenors as Grishka. But it was a true company show, with two excellent basses as the squabbling Tartars, and leading principals in the short, but vital, offstage voices of the birds of paradise. The chorus also had lots to do, and sounded wonderful.