Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) / ČAJKOVSKIJ,P.I.: Piková dáma (3CD)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades)

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Opera:Pique Dame / The Queen of Spades
Libretto: Modest Tchaikovsky after Alexander Pushkin
Language: Russian

Performers

• Hermann — Vitaly Tarashchenko
• Lisa — Natalia Datsko
• Countess — Irina Arkhipova
• Prince Yeletsky — Dmitri Hvorostovsky
• Tomsky — Grigory Gritsuk
• Surin — Alexander Vedernikov
• Chekalinsky — Alexander Dyachenko
• Narumov — Oleg Klenov
• Pauline — Nina Romanova

• Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
• Yurlov Russian State Choir
• Moscow Radio Chorus
• Vladimir Fedoseyev, conductor

Recording

• Live recording, Moscow Conservatory, Great Hall, December 1989

Bonus

• Alla Demidova reads Pushkin’s poem The Queen of Spades
  
  

CD 1

Act I

1. Introduction
2. Scene 1: “Once again I meet you, dear friends”
3. Hermann’s first appearance
4. Tomsky’s ballad of the Three Cards
5. Lisa and Pauline scene
6. Pauline’s romance
7. Girls’ chorus and dances
8. Lisa and Hermann duet
9. Finale to Act I

CD 2

Act II

1. Entr’acte
2. Ballroom scene
3. Yeletsky’s aria: “Ya vas lyublyu” (“I love you beyond measure”)
4. Pastoral intermezzo
5. Hermann enters the Countess’s room
6. Countess reminiscence: “Je crains de lui parler la nuit”
7. Death of the Countess
8. Hermann’s vision scene
9. Lisa’s waiting scene by the canal
10. Hermann and Lisa duet
11. Finale to Act II

CD 3

Act III

1. Hermann in the barracks
2. Ghost scene: appearance of the Countess
3. Interlude
4. Lisa at the Winter Canal
5. Lisa’s final scene
6. Gambling scene
7. Chorus of gamblers
8. Hermann confronts Yeletsky
9. The fatal card scene
10. Hermann’s death
11. Final chorus

Bonus Tracks

12. Alexander Pushkin: The Queen of Spades — excerpts read by Alla Demidova