Скачать или смотреть Tchaikovsky ─ "The Maid of Orleans". Complete performance, from the Bolshoi production of 1993.

From the outset, I must admit to being biased toward this production, and toward this composition. I do not own any copyright for this, but it has long been unavailable, and I can find no other video performance. I hope this rare work will be permitted to stay here, it certainly deserves to be seen and heard.[Since writing this entry, a new performance has appeared on DVD. But it is mercilessly cut, and forced into the straight-jacket of a conventional opera. It offers no competition to this.]

There are some minor cuts, a not uncommon action when staging an opera. The largest is the removal of a ballet (not unexpected when the number of performers moving around backstage is considered.) Throughout the work, movement is often stylized rather than naturalistic, as the work moves through various approaches to telling its story. For me, the performances are outstanding. This opera has so many facets, it would be difficult to stage, but the Bolshoi carries over all of its hurdles brilliantly.

To my knowledge, there has been no better performance to date, but the challenge would be to even match this production, let alone better it. Is there another Rautio out there, somewhere? Is there a company willing to risk staging the work? Can a company be found, willing to risk investing the cost of mounting a production with "the works", when the work is little known? Meanwhile, this may not be widescreen or have surround sound, but it has much to offer.

English subtitles.

CAST

Joan of Arc Nina Rautio.
King Charles VII Oleg Kulko.
Agnes Sorel Maria Gavrilo.
The Archbishop Gleb Nikolsky.
Lionel Vladimir Redkin.
Dunois Mikhail Krutikov.
Thaibaut Vyacheslav Pochapsky.
Raymond Arkady Mishenkin.
Bertrand Maksim Mikhailov.

Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.
Conductor Alexander Lazarev.

Producer Boris Pokrovsky.
Directed for video by Brian Large.