“Have ye heard?..”
Vladimir Spivakov Interprets Eugene Onegin
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov has released a recording of P.I.Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin under the ‘Spivakov Sound’ label.
“The lyricism of lyricisms”, that’s how Boris Asafiev, a renowned composer and musicologist, called Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, whereas an aficionado of the genre could say “The opera of operas”. The opera was written in the Romantic 19th century, the apogee of emotion and lyricism in the arts. The Romanticism ideas with their exploration of human feelings were central to Tchaikovsky. He wrote to Taneyev “I am looking for an intimate but powerful drama, based on the conflict of circumstances, such as I myself have experienced or witnessed, and which could move me to the core”. Almost by accident he found just what he needed in Pushkin's masterpiece.