Cheap Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Video) (Petr Weigl) Price

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Customer Reviews of Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

very enjoyable
I agree in principle with the previous reviewers, but I feel the films' faults have been exaggerated. It follows a set format of opera films, of the kind that are broadcast a lot on German and Austrian TV channels. This genre is harmless enough, and at worst it serves to illustrate the action (and provides a translation). I found this DVD very enjoyable. I have more issues with the libretto itself. What is the dramatic value of act IV (Siberia)? I feel it doesn't only illustrate how low the protagonists fell, but also drags this whole mediocre piece very low. It's almost as if a bourgeois (or even religious) morality rears its head in this Stalinist - era work, depicting rather crudely sin's punishment.

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Good for What It Is
This performance is not original, but based on an abbreviated version of the Rostropovich/Vishnevskaya recording, the only one available. This score is one of the masterpieces of the 20th Century, a magnificent work. The movie brings it down to 100 minutes, presumably for manageable length. Anyone expecting to hear the whole score is going to be disappointed, but so what? This is not an opera that is frequently performed even in opera houses, so I'm grateful to the director for what there is.

Time Magazine, reviewing the opera at its Met premiere in 1934, referred to the music in the love/rape scenes as `pornophony'. The director certainly got that right. The prudish or the parents of a muscially gifted minor should be warned that these scenes leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. As both actors are attractive and the action is indicated in the music (Time was absolutely right), I found these scenes appropriate and interesting, as well as erotic.

The negative occurs in the staging of the finale. These must be the best dressed, most humanely treated Siberian exiles in history. No chains, no prison garb, none of the degradation of mind and spirit that motivates the heroine's suicide. The criticism here is precisely the opposite of the praise of the intimate scenes, that the staging and music do not match. All the more puzzling, as the scene is set out of doors and realism could have been easily achieved.

All in all, people who like the opera, who are fascinated by Shostakovich, or who simply want an approachable version of an masterpiece should have this disc. You're not likely to get another, and what's good in it is very good. The reviewer above who described this work musically as mediocre is not worthy of credence. Even the edited version here is musically superb.

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Powerful and emotional
I think this is a very successful interpretation of the book by an obviously obscured to western audiences Russian writer Leskov. Although the purists would abhor some cuts in the opera itself, I think the singing and acting convey very well the primordial desire. Katerina never regretted the killing of her husband, according to the book - she was totally consumed by her lust to Sergei. And she despised her life in her husband's family. I give this work credit for the freedom of the artistic representation - Shostakovich did not follow the book to the last letter, so the creator of this film did not do it to his complete score, too. The perception of this work depends on a personal taste, as everything else, but I liked that the torment of Russian soul was there, and the film was generally quite successful in showing Russian way of life. I also liked that it was graphic enough for the theme, and also the actors looked credible for their roles. After all, this is a movie, not a recording of a real opera performance, and in the movie/opera hybrid I believe it was very successful. If you compare the realism of this DVD to another one, Khovanschina, you'll see the difference. At least for me, as a Russian, this is evident. I would recommend this DVD. The singing is magnificent.