With a little nudging, the internal filing system will probably turn up Dargomïzhsky as a footnote to the main entry under Rusalka, which will concern itself with the opera by Dvorák. The scenarios of the two works have much in common but the sources are different, Dargomïzhsky following closely the play by Pushkin, Dvorák’s based mainly on Fouqué’s Undine. Still more important are the dates of the premieres, 1856 and 1901 respectively. One needs to keep a historical perspective in mind, particularly when listening to the Dargomïzhsky. It is a mid-century work, with Russian opera still in the immediate post-Glinka period, still sorting out its relationship with the West. Dargomïzhsky may be modifying the Western forms but he is still working within them.

It is a long opera and it sometimes appears that the stage has been forgotten. The trio early in Act 1 and some of the subsequent duets follow a sufficiently eventful formal pattern but they incorporate little action. Actions vital to the story, when they do arise, are scantily represented in the music. And – what is so essential to the emotional effectiveness of an opera, a sympathy with the characters and a musical crisis which matches theirs – can hardly be said to be among the opera’s main achievements. Rusalka herself is potentially an apt operatic heroine but as a victim, not an avenger. That goes some way to explain why, in the West at least, Dvorák’s treatment has proved so attractive while Dargomïzhsky has yet to find a public.

Anyway, it is certainly time to give the Russian opera a hearing. To that extent the new recording is welcome despite shortcomings in two of the four principal roles. The Rusalka (Natasha in this opera) has a bright, clear voice which is not, however, evenly produced, and the Miller, her father, is both unsteady vocally and ineffective dramatically. This is a famous part, once a favourite of Chaliapin’s, and his Mad scene has traditionally been regarded as a great tour de force for the bass; here it is remarkable only for its rather bland sanity, and his crucial entry in the last moments of the opera hardly counts for anything at all. The best of the singers is the mezzo, Marina Prudenskaja, and the tenor, Vsevolod Grivnov, if rather unremitting, earns gratitude also. In general the singers give workaday performances that might do well enough in the theatre but for recording something more is wanted. The part of the child, Rusalochka, is spoken charmingly by Martha Jurowski but the acoustic is too obviously different. Jurowski himself conducts in a way that suggests a close personal engagement and the Cologne orchestra plays well for him. Even so, one could wish for a little more light and shade – shade especially.