Recordings of Kitezh have been hard to find, though there was a pioneering version on Chant du Monde with Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya (the conductor Gennadi’s mother) in one of her most successful roles as Fevroniya; and the opera did not fare all that well in the Soviet Union, partly through its static dramatic nature but also because of unease about its religious content. This latter has led to tiresome repetitions of the phrase “The Russian Parsifal”. Certainly the score is Wagner-influenced, though not very strongly by Parsifal itself, but the differences between Wagner’s last opera and Rimsky-Korsakov’s last but one are far more significant than the similarities. The present recording was made at the Bregenz Festival in July 1995, when Harry Kupfer’s production gave the work something of a new look and, regrettably, weakened the end by denying Vsevelod and Fevroniya their union in God. He also made cuts; and, though I have never heard a complete performance in the theatre, I am cautiously inclined to think that these (mostly of repeats in the expansive tableaux) do not disable the opera.
The score is beautiful and subtle, and Rimsky-Korsakov has used a lifetime’s experience in Russian fantastic opera and historical opera (absorbing, of course, Glinka’s two operas as well as Wagner) to make not a synthesis but a fruitful and often moving and exciting contact between them. The plot, too complicated for summary here, can be followed in the parallel translations into German, English and French, though regrettably there is no Russian original (either Cyrillic or transliterated) so that keeping one’s place can sometimes be difficult. There are also good essays by Robert Braunmuller, Lyubov Serebryakova and Kupfer himself. Dominating the proceedings is Vladimir Fedoseyev, who has a strong feeling for the space and intensity of the score, and for the luxuriant yet luminous sound that particularly characterizes it. He also holds the diverse action together well, and maintains as much dramatic tension as is possible: it is more a score of tableaux than of action. Yelena Prokina can sound rather light for Fevroniya, though the circumstances of staging at Bregenz (afloat on the lake, to an audience of 6,000) may have conspired against her, but her pure, true voice and unaffected style are ideal for the part. Sergey Naida complements her excellently as Vsevolod, and there is a star turn from Vladimir Galusin as the hopelessly wild drunkard Grishka Kuter’ma. The other parts are vividly taken; the choruses sing powerfully. It is a strange opera, more affecting than many of Rimsky-Korsakov’s, very well worth trying.'