Opera 36
Glink: Ruslan and Lyudmila
Soloists
Kirov Opera
Valery Gergiev
Ruslan and Lyudmila is of course famous for its overture - one of the great showpieces of the orchestral repertoire (I remember how scary it felt the first time I played it). But I had never heard any of the rest of the opera before. I thought it was an absolutely fascinating piece.
You can feel Glinka here trying (and succeeding) to create a Russian operatic tradition out of so many different strands. The influence of French Grand Opera is very clear is some of the big set piece ensembles (such as the end of the first act) but Weber is another influence and there is a Bellini-like Italianate lyricism to some of the lyrical numbers. Some of the ballet music seems to belong to the same world as Adam and Auber but others is distinctly Russian in style and looks forward to the ballet music of Tchaikovsky. But you also get elements of what would become the standard tropes of Russian opera. Folksong-based melodies, big choruses with a religious feel to them, major roles for low voices and oriental touches, including the use of the whole-tone scale.
The orchestration is fascinating. There is a prominent part for piano in the first act (it returns later) and some of the magic music uses the glass harmonica (it is not exactly clear what Glinka had in mind) though in this recording some sort of glockenspiel appears to be used.
Glinka manages to make a coherent opera out of all of these diverse elements and I really enjoyed getting to know the piece. You can see what Glinka had such an influence over the next generation of Russian opera composers. It was also satisfying, some 50+ years since I first heard the overture, to put in into the context of the operas as a whole. The big second-subject tune is a baritone aria in Act 2 and the fast scale-based music at the start occurs at the very end of the opera. The overture is such a good piece on its own that one admires the way that Glinka wove everything together seamlessly.
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