Shchedrin: The Left-Hander Popov

• Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (1932): Act I
• 1Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Winter Palace03:24
• 2Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Ataman Platov's Story02:55
• 3Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Inspection of the Armoury05:46
• 4Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The River Tulitsa03:04
• 5Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Buckingham Palace. Orchestral Interlude I00:59
• 6Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Royal Presentation04:00
• 7Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Seven Turns of the Key. Orchestral Interlude II00:41
• 8Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Flea02:07
• 9Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Arioso of Alexander I and Scena04:33
• 10Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Again in the Winter Palace (During the Reign of Tsar Nicholas I)03:00
• 11Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: A village in Tula and the Left-Hander's Rude Songs03:19
• 12Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Ataman Platov Arrives in Tula04:43
• 13Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Russians Refashion the English Flea03:47
• 14Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Russians Refashion the English Flea03:56
• 15Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Journey from Tula to St Petersburg. Orchestral Interlude III01:42
• 16Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Ataman Platov and the Left-Hander Arrive at the Winter Palace03:42
• 17Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The Microscope Is Brought in. Orchestral Interlude IV00:50
• 18Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: The English Flea Subjected to Russian Modification02:12
• 19Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act I: Act One Finale04:33
• Act II
• 20Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: The Left-Hander and the Flea at Buckingham Palace01:12
• 21Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: The Russified Flea02:12
• 22Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Delighted English Question the Left-Hander07:15
• 23Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: The English Brides (Love Canzonets)04:02
• 24Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Attempts at Persuasion04:05
• 25Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Know How. Orchestral Interlude V01:47
• 26Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: How to Clean Your Musket?03:14
• 27Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: A Vision of Russia03:10
• 28Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: The Left-Hander Sets Sail for Russia07:36
• 29Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: The Storm. Orchestral Interlude VI02:17
• 30Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Return to St. Petersburg04:01
• 31Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Final Scenes (Ordeal in the Infirmaries)09:30
• 32Shchedrin: The Left-Hander, Act II: Epilogue09:58
• Total Runtime01:59:32

Info for Shchedrin: The Left-Hander

Specially written for Gergiev on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Rodion Shchedrin’s 'The Left-Hander' is a comedy of Russians and Englishmen, new technology, old traditions and strong drink. The premiere was given by the Mariinsky Opera in St Petersburg in July 2013.

Rodion Shchedrin is one of music’s greatest living humourists and his work is laced with pitch-black irony and deadpan wit. Based on Nikolai Leskov’s classical satirical novella of 1881, 'The Tale of Cross-Eyed Lefty From Tula and the Steel Flea', 'The Left-Hander' is a gloriously wry exploration of Russia’s relationship with the West in general and England in particular. The work recently received its UK premiere and was met with great acclaim.

'Unexpectedly moving and stunningly well sung.' (The Financial Times)

'Gergiev conducted Shchedrin’s 2013 score with understated intensity and musical humility, transporting us to the haunting world of Nikolai Leskov’s original novella. Shchedrin’s scoring is characteristically inventive and colourful...the forging music is witty and humorous.' (The Telegraph)

'The Left-Hander is a real comic opera of beguiling charm and fizzing vivacity, sharing its absurd grotesquerie with Shostakovich’s The Nose, its tingling enchantment with Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges and its wild mania with Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest. What grounds it, though, is an overwhelming, Russian nostalgia, an umbilical cord linking back to Mussorgsky.' (Classical-music.com)

Andrei Popov, tenor
Edward Tsanga, bass
Vladimir Moroz, baritone
Kristina Alieva, soprano
Maria Maksakova, mezzo-soprano
St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater Orchestra
St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater Chorus
Valery Gergiev, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Shchedrin: The Left-Hander