"PRINCIPE IGOR"

Speranza

Actually, the basic plot is straightforward.

IGOR, a prince in the city of Putivl, gathers his army for a campaign against the nomadic Polovtsians, who have been ravaging the Russian territories.

Igor's troops are defeated, and he and Vladimir [tenore], his son, are taken captive.

VLADIMIR falls in love with the sensual daughter of KHAN KONCHAK, the ruler of the Polovtsians, who sees in his captive a potential all, if only IGOR will seek a truce.

Vowing to continue the fight, IGOR escapes.

He returns to a city in ruins and feels like a failure.

Still, his people hail his return.

Igor doubts himself and is insecure.

It is an internal search for clarity, which includes dreamscapes in which he ponders what has happened.

THE PROLOGO, in PUTIVL, takes place in a simple public meeting room with yellow-beige walls, a ceiling of wood beams and dangling electric lights.

The people are gathered to send the soldiers, dressed in russet-coloured uniforms, off to battle.

Family and friends mostly sing from the balcony that surrounds the room.

But Igor, looking panicky, paces among the troops.

THE PROLOGO is followed by Borodin's scene in the POLOVTSIAN STEPPES.

The defeat of Igor's troops is something we only learn about after it has happened off-stage.

Images of the battle overlap with the beginning of the haunting music of the PLOVTSIAN scene, set in a wondrous, almost surreal field of red poppies.

The daughter of the Khan, deep in thought and yearning for VLADIMIR [tenore], sings a great aria wondering when her beloved will come to her.

VLADIMIR is earnest, impetuous, and impassioned.

The best-known piece of music from the melodrama is the popular Polovtsian dances with chours.

To stage the music, the regista turns the poppy field into a lush pasture where some three dozen dancers cavort.

The choristers sing from the side boxes closest to the stage.

Acustically, the effect is thrilling.

By the end of the scene, even Igor seems enthralled by the sensory splendour all around him.

IGOR has entrusted his wife and his city to the care of his brother-in-law, GALITSKY, a coarse cad, who schemes to take power while Igor is captive.

GALIITSKY exhorts his followers into frenzied drunken revels that jibes with the pummeling rhythms of the music.

Even during anthems, dances, and elegies, BORODINE tapped into depths of sadness.

Noseda conduscts with clarity and precision.

The chorus is at its glorious best.