Firma Melodiya releases an archival recording of one of the most tragic operas of the great Russian composer, performed by the company of the USSR Bolshoi Theatre.
Mazeppa holds a unique position among Tchaikovsky’s nine operas. In 1881, the composer became interested in the plot of Pushkin’s poem Poltava, in which the dramatic events of Peter the Great’s era and the story of Ukrainian hetman Mazeppa’s betrayal are intertwined with the conflict of relations between Mazeppa and the Kochubey family. No other major work cost the composer so much labour and doubt. Tchaikovsky gave up the work he had started and radically reworked the libretto several times. It took him two years to write the opera. Mazeppa enjoyed more than modest success in the composer’s lifetime. The uniqueness of the opera was finally discovered as late as in the twentieth century, and how gratifying this work was despite the fact that it was extremely difficult to stage.
Mazeppa shifts the accents towards a personal drama – young Mariya’s love for the old hetman is similar to a demonic fate. However, the solo and ensemble scenes alternate with large-scale and epic choral scenes. The genuine culmination of the opera is the finale of the second act (the scene of Kochubey’s execution), which is one of the peaks of the Russian operatic art of the nineteenth century.
The Melodiya fund contains several recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa. Each of them is marked by the participation of prominent musicians. This particular recording was made as part of the ambitious project The Complete Collection of Tchaikovsky’s Recorded Music. It involved the talents of Vladimir Valaitis, Irina Arkhipova, Tamara Milashkina, Evgeny Nesterenko, Vladislav Piavko and other celebrated soloists of the famous stage. The production is conducted by Fuat Mansurov, People’s Artist of Russia, the Kazakh SSR and the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He conducted the Russian and foreign operatic repertoire at the Bolshoi for for forty years, earning the love and popularity of music lovers.

CD1
Introduction
Act I. Scene 1
Act I. Scene 2
Total time: 59.00
CD2
Act II. Scene 1
Act II. Scene 2
Total time: 53.02
CD3
Act II. Scene 3
Act III
Total time: 50.11
Mazeppa – Vladimir Valaitis, baritone
Kochubey – Evgeny Nesterenko, bass
Mariya – Tamara Milashkina, soprano
Lyubov – Irina Arkhipova, mezzo-soprano
Andrei – Vladislav Piavko, tenor
Orlik – Valery Yaroslavtsev, bass
Iskra – Konstantin Baskov, tenor
Drunken Cossack – Anatoly Mishutin, tenor
The choir and orchestra of the USSR State Academic Bolshoi Theatre
Choirmasters: A. Khazanov, I. Agafonnikov
Conductor – Fuat Mansurov
Sound engineer – L. Bobrova
Editor – Polina Dobryshkina
Remastering – Maksim Pilipov
Design – Ildar Kruykov