Ildar Abdrazakov, Misha Didyk, Sergey Murzaev, Peter Bronder, Gennadi Bezzubenkov, BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda - Rachmaninov: The Miserly Knight (2009) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24: Prelude
02. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 1: Whatever happens, I shall appear at the tournanemt [Albert, Servant]
03. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 1: What has the idler Solomon to say? [Albert, Servant]
04. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 1: Your humble servant' [Jew, Albert]
05. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 1: Yes, at the Baron's funeral more money will flow Than tears [Jew, Albert]
06. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 1: What? Poison my father! [Albert, Jew]
07. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 2: Like the young libertine awaiting a meeting with some wily harlot [Baron]
08. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 2: Like some demon, from here I can rule the world! [Baron]
09. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 2: It doesn't seem much, but of how many human cares [Baron]
10. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 2: Every time I start to open a chest! [Baron]
11. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 2: But after me who will have possession of It? [Baron]
12. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 3: Believe me, Sire, I have long suffered the shame of bitter poverty [Albert, Duke]
13. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 3: Baron, I'm pleased to see you so hale and hearty [Duke, Baron, Albert]
14. Skupoy ritsa (the Miserly Knight), Op. 24, Scene 3: You, here? You, here? [Baron, Albert, Duke]



Following their acclaimed recording of Francesca da Rimini, the BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor Gianandrea Noseda continue their exploration of Rachmaninoff’s three one-act operas.

The Miserly Knight is the finest of Rachmaninoff’s operas. If circumstances had been more favourable he would have composed far more of the stage, but the three short operas he did complete show that he had all the makings of a great opera composer.

It is quite possible that The Miserly Knight was inspired by Rachmaninoff’s spendthrift father who frittered away the family’s fortune and, following his sister’s death from diphtheria, separated from Sergei’s mother. The financial incompetence of Rachmaninoff’s father may have drawn the composer to Pushkin’s ‘little tragedy’ The Miserly Knight, that Pushkin wrote in the autumn of 1830 in which the rich Baron’s destitute son is forced to consider murdering his father in order to access his inheritance. Pushkin’s drama makes an excellent opera text, full of striking phrases and images, and almost ideal for musical setting in its sequence of episodes and ideas.

Opera is one of Gianandrea Noseda’s great musical passions and it is a genre he has explored to stunning effect with the BBC Philharmonic. In September he became Music Director at Teatro Regio in Turin, one of Europe’s leading opera houses, and he also appeared with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala, Turin.

This enthralling recording features amongst the soloists, the talented young bass Ildar Abdrazakov and tenor Misha Didyk. This Summer Abrazakov had his debut at the Salzburg Festival and 2010 will see him in a new production of Attila at the Metropolitan Opera, while Didyk has, during the past three seasons, emerged as one of opera’s most exciting young lyric tenors.

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