Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, as Alejandra Vernon has pointed out in her excellent review, is a wonderful Eugene Onegin. The darkness in his voice is essential to projecting his inner turmoil, but there is also sympathy there as well in his mellow timbre. Too many run-of-the-mill Onegins sound one-dimensional (ie angry all the time). Hvorostovsky makes him startlingly real, and our appreciation of his plight is all the more keenly felt because we understand his weaknesses. I share Ms Vernon's hope that we will one day be able to see a filmed performance of Hvorostovsky in this role. Nuccia Focile is an excellent Tatyana, despite a slight inclination to shrillness at the very top of her voice. Her Letter Scene is movingly sung, and her final duet with Hvorostovsky is thrilling in its intensity. Neil Shicoff is equally intense in his heartfelt Kuda, Kuda and the lead-up to his duel with Onegin is riveting and terrifying at the same time. The recording brings out a slight grittiness in his voice, but this is nevertheless an attractive performance. His wooing of Olga (Olga Borodina) in the gorgeous Ya Lyublyu Vas in Act 1 is suitably romantic and sweet. With a great supporting cast and chorus, and inspired conducting from Semyon Bychnov, this is a recording to treasure.