Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Tchaikovsky: Cherevichki

Opera no 37

Tchaikovsky: Cherevichki

Soloists

Chorus and Orchestra del Teatro Lirico Di Gagliari

Gennady Rozhdestvensky

This was an opera I was looking forward to. I’ve heard from several people that it is a good piece and Tchaikovsky himself  said that it was ‘musically well-nigh my best opera’. I have to say, however, that I found it rather disappointing. It is not a bad piece  of course, but I felt that it never really made an impact - much of it rather passed me by. It was only towards the end that I really started to enjoy the piece. Mainly because of the extended dance music which was first rate Tchaikovsky and very much in the same mode as the great ballets. There was also an attractive duet for female voices.  But by this time it was too late for me. I am a great Tchaikovsky enthusiast and so it was doubly disappointing that this work failed, at least for me, to hit the spot. 

But of course the whole point of this project is to explore lots of different works and there are bound to be some which don’t make such a strong impression as others.

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