Recorded live at the Bolshoi theatre on December 20th, 1961
This premiere release of Glinka's «Ruslan and Lyudmila» is from one of
the best productions of this opera. It was first performed for the stage
of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1948 with direction by R. Zakharov, conducted
by A. Melik-Pashaev and designed by the artist V.Dmitriev. In this radio
broadcast from 1961, we have the opportunity of hearing some of the
soloists who joined the Bolshoi Theatre during the 1950's - the dramatic
baritone Victor Nechipailo, Galina Oleinichenko, Alexei Geleva, and
Maria Mityukova. In addition, this recording also features one of the
Bolshoi Theatre's best dramatic sopranos, Eugenia Smolenskaya, who
performed on that stage from 1947. Due to staging constraints, this
production of the opera was performed in an abridged version (for
example the first scene from Act V was omitted).