Stars: Yuri Marusin, Nancy Gustafson, Felicity Palmer, Sergei Leiferkus, Dimitri Kharitonov, Glyndebourne Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Davis

Director: Graham Vick

Summary: A revelatory interpretation of the psychologically harrowing work with music by Piotr Tchaikovsky.

Graham Vick's production of Tchaikovsky's opera PIQUE DAME dates from the 1992 Glyndebourne Festival and features Russian singers Sergei Leiferkus, Dmitri Kharitonov and Yuri Marusin. The London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Glyndebourne Chorus, conducted by Andrew Davis, provide the musical backdrop.

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In terms of vocal power, lyrical beauty and idiomatic authenticity, the casting for this 1992 live recording of the Kirov production of Pique Dame("The Queen of Spades") could hardly be bettered. Gegam Grigorian (Herman) hits his fearsome, anguished high notes with the accuracy of a laser and Maria Gulegina (Liza) has a voice the size of the QEII but uses it with great subtlety--her opening duet with Pauline floats like gossamer, and her declarations of love for Herman at the end of Act 1 are spine-tingling. Kirov superstars Sergei Leiferkus (Tomsky) and rich-toned Olga Borodina (Pauline) also sound divine. In the pit Valery Gergiev renders every nuance of Tchaikovsky's score with clarity, and drives the strings to produce an almost unbearably tense atmosphere of foreboding; Herman's manslaughter of the Countess is preceded by shallow, haunted phrases which rise and fall like a beating heart.

It isn't all rosy, however. The production comes from the traditional old Kirov "stand-and-sing" tradition and is somewhat static. The characters don't interact with much detail or generate much chemistry, and the chorus moves in unwieldy blocks. For a more gripping production (though not quite as well sung) try the Glyndebourne performance. But for sheer musical pleasure, you won't find anything to beat this.

On the DVD:Pique Damedoesn't feature particularly inventive camerawork, though it does give a good solid account of the production. The sound recording captures all the most important moments with clarity, though just occasionally singers stray away from the microphones. There are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and some trailers for other Universal Music DVDs. --Warwick Thomson

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	Russian
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	English, French, German, Spanish
Year:	1992
Release Date:	February 4, 2002
Runtime:	170 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	100 272
Keywords:	Music, Queen, Opera, Dame, Performance, Plays, Spades, Tchaikovsky, Performing, Operetta, Arts, Pique
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts