Word: ismailova
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...opera was reinstated as Katerina Ismailova...
SHOSTAKOVICH: KATERINA ISMAILOVA (3 LPs; Melodiya-Angel). This opera cost its composer considerable grief: shortly after he wrote it he was denounced by the Soviets for bourgeois intentions and vulgar execution. It is a brash work; at times openly satirical, at others tragically serious. The plot, based on Nikolai Leskov's story, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District, tells of a frustrated wife who eventually destroys the men around her. All the characters are thoroughly unsympathetic. The recording, part of Capitol's new import of Russian phonography, is disappointing. As the wife, Niconora Andreyeva has spirited dramatic presence...
...generally assumed that the changes he was making would be pitifully political. But on both sides of the Iron Curtain, all doubts have been dispelled. Last January the new opera got an enthusiastic reception in Moscow. Last week, with the new title of Katerina Ismailova, it had its Western debut at London's Covent Garden. To the delight of an audience that would not stop cheering until the shy Shostakovich had come onstage to accept a laurel wreath, every change turned out to be strictly the work of a matured and masterly composer...