PRINCE IGOR: Borodin's Stand-Alone Piece Of Awesomeness

Last Wednesday was the rebroadcast of Prince Igor.  Alexander Borodin, the man who composed the opera, worked on the piece for eighteen years until his sudden death before was even halfway done.  Two of his contemporaries, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexandar Glazunov, took on the challenge of assembling the opera together from Borodin's sketches and even composing some music of their own for it.  As a result, there is no definitive way of sequencing the scenes as there are in most other operas.  

 Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov, a long-standing favorite at the Met, made a splash this season as the prince (more on him later).  Ukrainian soprano Oksana Dyka made her Met debut in the role of Igor's wife Yaroslavna.  The young Georgian* mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvilli was the Povlotsian princess Konchakovna, and tenor Sergey Semishkur sang her lover; Igor's son Vladimir.  Mikhail Petrenko was Yaroslavna's treacherous brother Prince Galitsky.  And bass Štefan Kocán, whom I last saw as the dastardly criminal Sparafucile in Verdi's Rigoletto, appeared as the Povlotsian Kahn Konchak.  In short we had an all-Slavic cast. 

Prince Igor is based off of a Russian epic that was itself based off of a real life Russian monarch.  The opera tells the story of how Prince Igor led an unsuccessful campaign against the barbarian Povlotsian tribes.  He was captured and later escaped. Due to Borodin's death halfway through the project, the opera suffers from a lack of plot. 
This new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov uses music specifically written by Borodin and focuses on the psychological aspect character of the title character.  Tcherniakov reset the story from the 12th-Century to more of a World War One setting.  The course of the production shows Igor suffering from PTSD after losing his men. 
     In the Prologue, Prince Igor and his men are preparing to go off to war.  A sudden solar eclipse terrifies the populace who take it as a bad omen.  Igor remains undaunted and marches against the enemy anyhow.  
     In between the Prologue and Act one there was a video in the mode of a silent movie.  Igor and his soldiers are in the trenches looking nervously around as shells go off the distance.  A series of several shells hits their trench, decimating the army.  Igor himself is badly wounded and suffers a concussion.  As a young maiden sings of how the flower fades and is reborn, Igor is carried off the battlefield to a military hospital.  
    Act One, also known as the Povlotsian Act, shows Igor mourning the loss of his army and the regret he feels over having dishonored his country.  In this production instead of the Povlotsian camp, the act is a concussion-induced dream sequence that takes place in a vast field of poppy flowers.  Igor wanders about the field of poppies and sees a beautiful young woman.  This is Konchakovna, daughter of a Povlotsian kahn.  She is in love with Igor's son Vladimir.  Vladimir enters and he and Konchakovna have a rendezvous.  In this production, Vladimir was killed in action during the battle; Igor is seen holding the young man's body.  So Igor's witnessing the love between Konchakovna and Vladimir could be interpreted as Igor regreting having not found a wife for his son.  He is treated with surprising respect from Kahn Konchak who tells him that he will release Igor if he promises not to attack the Povlotsians again.  Igor refuses and of course Konchak gives a long spiel the basically translates as "You're aggressive; I like that," and talks about how together they can conquer the world.  He then orders his slaves to dance for him and Igor.  This sequence is the famous Povlotsian Dances and this closes the act.  
      I am sad to say that the Povlotsian Dances, the highlight and of the opera and perhaps Borodin's greatest musical achievement, was the low point of the production.  Not only did the choreography not communicate the fact that the slaves are praising the kahn to the skies, it also made the dancers look like they were undead.  The women looked okay but the men needed more clothing and the choreography needed to match the words.  Heck, a Renegade Dalek playing ping pong with an alcoholic elephant makes more sense than the dance choreography did.  

Act Two takes place in the Great Hall of Igor's palace in Putivl.  His young wife, Princess Yaroslavna, rules in his stead.  She has been anxiously awaiting any news of her husband.  Meanwhile her cunning and lecherous brother Prince Vladimir of Galitsky has been pressuring her to give up the throne seeing that Igor has not returned.  A group of women approach the princess and beg her to help them.  The carousing Galitsky has carried off a young girl against her will.  The women plead with the Yaroslavna to act on their behalf.  Galitsky enters trying again to convince Yaroslavna to give up her throne to him.  She refuses and calls him out on his behavior, demanding that he return the maiden he kidnapped back to her parents.  
    Galitksy's men toast to his health and celebrate his lechery.  The women come in and demand that the men return the girl Galitsky kidnapped.  The men of course refuse.  
   The boyars remain loyal to Princess Yaroslavna as they have sworn fidelity to Igor.  They tell Yaroslavna of her husband's defeat and captivity.  What's worse is that a Polvotsian army led by  Kahn Gzak is drawing closer to the Putivl.  They assure the princess that the city is strong and God will protect it.  Galitsky comes in with is men and demand again that Yaroslavna relenquish the throne.  She refuses and the boyars tell Galitsky of their loyalty to Igor.  Kahn Gzak attacks the city and ion the ensuing panic, Galitsky is trampled to death.  
    Yaroslavna is the highlight of this act.  She is one of the strongest characters in the opera due to her undying faithfulness to her husband and her staunch refusal to yield to Galitsky's demands.  Oksana brings out the passion and faithfulness of Yaroslavna with her interpretation.  

Act Three sees Igor return home still dealing with survivor's guilt.  Putivl lies in ruins; the people, including the princess, struggle to keep warm during the cold nights.  Yaroslavna curses the elements, blaming them for Igor's defeat.  The populace say that is was Kahn Gzak, and not the elements, which brought about their ruin.  In this production, while the chorus sings backstage, Igor enters.  He is despondent, blaming himself for Russia's troubles.  He is also not quite fully recovered from his wounds (he walks with a limp).  He has another dream about his son and Konchakovna.  Meanwhile two servants spot him and ring the bell proclaiming that the prince has returned home.  At first the people don't believe them (natch), until they see him right in front.  Yaroslavna is overjoyed to be reunited with her husband at last.  Igor laments that he has not died in battle and has had to suffer captivity.  He refuses to let people glove his hands or put a blanket around his shoulders, but when someone offers a pitcher of water, he pours it over his head in order to revive himself.  Then with his own hands he picks up rubble and starts putting it back into place.  The people follow his example in an effort to rebuild the shattered kingdom and start again.  

This was my first time seeing Ildar Abdrazakov live.  I had heard him over the radio and on YouTube, but never live.  Seriously, this guy is worth looking up.  He is also the first and only bass to make my Top Favorites List.  

This opera is a must see.  

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*The Repuclic of Georgia in Eastern Europe, not the state that Sherman went through.