Krassimira Stoyanova - Eugene Onegin - BLU-RAY

Kasper Holten's inaugural production as director of opera for the Royal Opera returns to Pushkin's verse novella to reveal the shadows of memory which haunt Tchaikovsky's lyric tragedy. Using doubles to suggest the paths taken, or not taken, by it's two impulsive protagonists, Holten gives eloquent voice to the loss and regret that lies at the heart of Eugene Onegin. Simon Keenlyside and Krassimira Stoyanova bring both experience and dynamic energy to the pair of protagonists, while the youthful, 'heartrending' tenor of Pavol Breslik and the idiomatic sweep of Robin Ticciati's 'inspired' conducting (The Independent) were enthusiastically received at the premiere of this visually opulent staging.

Three romantic heroes each with a solitary destiny Tatiana, a Romanesque young woman seeking absolution, Onegin, a distant dandy hiding emptiness under affected haughtiness, and Lenski, abandoned by his literary idol. Between these three, barren affections presage the inexorable social ruin. All the resources of the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow are brought to bear to ensure this opera performance is exceptional evening of theatre and song a vocal line-up of the highest order with notably the baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and the Bolshoi Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Alexander Vedernikov. With a stage setting as sombre as it is effective - a great dining table appears in the middle of a salon - the director Dmitri Tcherniakov separates two different worlds and lends the drama a clarity rarely reached. The exceptional quality of this production, and the great success encountered by it's first edition, inevitably led to the remastering in high-definition of this program to celebrate the 10th anniversary of it's original .

Described by Tchaikovsky as 'lyric scenes', Eugene Onegin receives a spectacular reinterpretation from the Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. His productions create controversy and excitement around Europe, and here he takes Pushkin's story of illusion, disaffection and frustrated love, and places the protagonists - world-weary Onegin and naive, passionate Tatyana - in a triple temporal perspective, referencing the theatrical present, the period of the work's composition, and the pageant of Russia's history. Mariss Janson's, renowned for his mastery of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, conducts this performance from Amsterdam's Muziektheater.