Classical DVDhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jan/27/dvdreviews.classicalmusicandopera
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Prokina/ Drabowicz/ Thompson/ Winter/ Glyndebourne Festival Opera/ LPO/ Davis
Andrew Clements
The Guardian, Friday 27 January 2006
Graham Vick's production of Onegin, conducted by Andrew Davis, was one of Glyndebourne's most memorable achievements of the past 20 years. It was a staging with a wealth of psychological perceptions and beautifully rendered dramatic imagery, all held within the spare framework of Richard Hudson's designs, which still stand up superbly well under the close scrutiny of this video recording taken from performances in 1994.
Elena Prokina's extraordinary performance as Tatyana is the beating heart of the show. Prokina, always a compelling stage animal, was then at the height of her vocal powers, and the way she charts her character's transformation from impulsive adolescent in the first act to society wife and hostess in the last is perfectly judged. Her final meeting with Onegin (a richly complex performance by Wojciech Drabowicz) does not miss any of the intense hopelessness of opportunity lost.
Martin Thompson's forlorn Lensky is a very touching portrayal, too, in a production that recognises that there are ultimately no good or bad characters in this story - just intensely human ones, caught in a maelstrom of events from which none of them can escape.
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Prokina/ Drabowicz/ Thompson/ Winter/ Glyndebourne Festival Opera/ LPO/ Davis
Andrew Clements
The Guardian, Friday 27 January 2006
Graham Vick's production of Onegin, conducted by Andrew Davis, was one of Glyndebourne's most memorable achievements of the past 20 years. It was a staging with a wealth of psychological perceptions and beautifully rendered dramatic imagery, all held within the spare framework of Richard Hudson's designs, which still stand up superbly well under the close scrutiny of this video recording taken from performances in 1994.
Elena Prokina's extraordinary performance as Tatyana is the beating heart of the show. Prokina, always a compelling stage animal, was then at the height of her vocal powers, and the way she charts her character's transformation from impulsive adolescent in the first act to society wife and hostess in the last is perfectly judged. Her final meeting with Onegin (a richly complex performance by Wojciech Drabowicz) does not miss any of the intense hopelessness of opportunity lost.
Martin Thompson's forlorn Lensky is a very touching portrayal, too, in a production that recognises that there are ultimately no good or bad characters in this story - just intensely human ones, caught in a maelstrom of events from which none of them can escape.
Seen and Heard Recital Review
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2005/Jan-Jun05/wigmore2103.htm
Dargomïzhsky, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Shostakovich, Salmanov, Minkov Elena Prokina (soprano), Elena Abeleva (piano), Wigmore Hall, 1pm, Monday March 21st, 2005 (CC)
Talk about star substitutions. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was originally billed for this lunchtime, cancelled and so we had the magnificent Elena Prokina, an international star who sang her native music (she is Odessa-born) with magnificent style. The sheer range of repertoire should have been enough, surely, to entice a full or near-full house. But no, there were inexplicably plenty of spaces. Small matter. Those of us lucky enough to be present were served a feast of Russian song. The thread that ran through the recital was that of a Spanish influence, a proclivity began in Russian music by Glinka. But it was not Glinka that kicked things off.
It was Alexander Dargomïzhsky (1813-1869), a composer best known (almost exclusively known, in fact) for his Pushkin opera,The Stone Guest (1866-9), an opera that has gained bad press for its unrelenting use of arioso. He did, interestingly, write aRusalka, too. Three Dargomïzhsky songs began the recital, one an aria from The Stone Guest (Laura’s aria, ‘Granada lies enveloped in the mist’). And what a revelation they were. The first, ‘The Sierra Nevada is shrouded in mist’ introduced Prokina’s rich, full voice and her smooth, legato line. The opera aria, a sweetly hesitant waltz, contrasted with the disturbed, dark sonorities of ‘The night zephyr’. Elena Abeleva’s accompaniments were musical and unassuming (she played with the lid up and never once even threatened to drown her soloist). Prokina obviously feels a great affection for this composer – two of the three encores came from his pen (the remaining one was the only ‘real’ Spanish music of the concert, some De Falla).
The jollity of Glinka gave relief in the programme. The frivolity of ‘I am here, Inezilla’ (1834) sat well with ‘Oh wonderful girl of mine’ from the 1940 Farewell to St Petersburg. But it was when we got to Tchaikovsky that it was easy to recognize the arrival of truly great music. Two Serenades were Prokina’s offerings (Op. 63 No. 6 of 1887 and Op. 65 No. 1 of the following year). Prokina reveled in lines such as, ‘may your repose … be caressed by the soft sound of kisses’ (from the first Serenade on offer).
Perhaps it was slightly unfair to the other composers to include Tchaikovsky. All offerings were fine specimens of the genre, yet set beside the Tchaikovsky, Balakirev’s Spanish Song (1855) sounded distinctly second-league. The Shostakovich Spanish Songs, Op. 100 of 1956 deserves more frequent airings. Prokina and Abeleva gave us Nos. 1, 2 and 6 of this set of arrangements of traditional Spanish folk-tunes. Immediately Shostakovich takes us into a Spain of the darkest hues, the piano low and resonant. Of course, anything jaunty comes through the Shostakovich-prism, while the contrasting ‘Dream’ provided a measure of peace. Here, as everywhere, Prokina’s diction was perfect.
The Sonnet (1960) by Vadim Salmanov was a real surprise (it comes from his 1960’s song-cycle Spain in the heart). English-only text in the booklet (an extra pound on top of the ticket price – no composer credited, wrong date given for the Shostakovich… no composer given for the Salmanov…) stopped full appreciation of this real cri-de-coeur. And finally, a sequence of songs from Mark Minkov’s Crying of the Guitar (1921), settings of Lorca, jazz-inflected at times, hypnotic at others. Amusing also – but sad – in the final ‘Carmen’, an image of an ageing Carmen whose hair is white and who dreams of ‘suitors of other days’. This last song was the only one in which Prokina really let rip, possibly scaling her voice down for the size of the hall in the rest of the recital.
What a great voice she has. It is always a pleasure to hear her. Weeks can surely have no better start than this Monday lunchtime.
Colin Clarke
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2005/Jan-Jun05/wigmore2103.htm
Dargomïzhsky, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Shostakovich, Salmanov, Minkov Elena Prokina (soprano), Elena Abeleva (piano), Wigmore Hall, 1pm, Monday March 21st, 2005 (CC)
Talk about star substitutions. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was originally billed for this lunchtime, cancelled and so we had the magnificent Elena Prokina, an international star who sang her native music (she is Odessa-born) with magnificent style. The sheer range of repertoire should have been enough, surely, to entice a full or near-full house. But no, there were inexplicably plenty of spaces. Small matter. Those of us lucky enough to be present were served a feast of Russian song. The thread that ran through the recital was that of a Spanish influence, a proclivity began in Russian music by Glinka. But it was not Glinka that kicked things off.
It was Alexander Dargomïzhsky (1813-1869), a composer best known (almost exclusively known, in fact) for his Pushkin opera,The Stone Guest (1866-9), an opera that has gained bad press for its unrelenting use of arioso. He did, interestingly, write aRusalka, too. Three Dargomïzhsky songs began the recital, one an aria from The Stone Guest (Laura’s aria, ‘Granada lies enveloped in the mist’). And what a revelation they were. The first, ‘The Sierra Nevada is shrouded in mist’ introduced Prokina’s rich, full voice and her smooth, legato line. The opera aria, a sweetly hesitant waltz, contrasted with the disturbed, dark sonorities of ‘The night zephyr’. Elena Abeleva’s accompaniments were musical and unassuming (she played with the lid up and never once even threatened to drown her soloist). Prokina obviously feels a great affection for this composer – two of the three encores came from his pen (the remaining one was the only ‘real’ Spanish music of the concert, some De Falla).
The jollity of Glinka gave relief in the programme. The frivolity of ‘I am here, Inezilla’ (1834) sat well with ‘Oh wonderful girl of mine’ from the 1940 Farewell to St Petersburg. But it was when we got to Tchaikovsky that it was easy to recognize the arrival of truly great music. Two Serenades were Prokina’s offerings (Op. 63 No. 6 of 1887 and Op. 65 No. 1 of the following year). Prokina reveled in lines such as, ‘may your repose … be caressed by the soft sound of kisses’ (from the first Serenade on offer).
Perhaps it was slightly unfair to the other composers to include Tchaikovsky. All offerings were fine specimens of the genre, yet set beside the Tchaikovsky, Balakirev’s Spanish Song (1855) sounded distinctly second-league. The Shostakovich Spanish Songs, Op. 100 of 1956 deserves more frequent airings. Prokina and Abeleva gave us Nos. 1, 2 and 6 of this set of arrangements of traditional Spanish folk-tunes. Immediately Shostakovich takes us into a Spain of the darkest hues, the piano low and resonant. Of course, anything jaunty comes through the Shostakovich-prism, while the contrasting ‘Dream’ provided a measure of peace. Here, as everywhere, Prokina’s diction was perfect.
The Sonnet (1960) by Vadim Salmanov was a real surprise (it comes from his 1960’s song-cycle Spain in the heart). English-only text in the booklet (an extra pound on top of the ticket price – no composer credited, wrong date given for the Shostakovich… no composer given for the Salmanov…) stopped full appreciation of this real cri-de-coeur. And finally, a sequence of songs from Mark Minkov’s Crying of the Guitar (1921), settings of Lorca, jazz-inflected at times, hypnotic at others. Amusing also – but sad – in the final ‘Carmen’, an image of an ageing Carmen whose hair is white and who dreams of ‘suitors of other days’. This last song was the only one in which Prokina really let rip, possibly scaling her voice down for the size of the hall in the rest of the recital.
What a great voice she has. It is always a pleasure to hear her. Weeks can surely have no better start than this Monday lunchtime.
Colin Clarke
''Безвестный триумф 05.12.2000
Который раз испытываю смешанное чувство гордости/горечи, наталкиваясь на сайт деятеля русской культуры, работающего за рубежом.
Елена Прокина. Вам что-нибудь говорит это имя? До вчерашнего дня я о ней не слышал, каюсь. Хотя это признание, вероятно, вызовет презрение у питерских любителей оперного искусства. Ибо Елена Прокина - наша, мариинская, пела здесь до 1994 года. А теперь поет по всему миру. Только не у нас.
Меня удивило не столько то, что она известна в мире, считается звездой v мало ли у нас талантов? v а то, что я совсем не слышал о ней. В конце концов, даже не являясь любителем оперы, а просто регулярно щелкая переключателем программ телевизора, наталкиваешься и на Хворостовского, и на Каррераса, и на Доминго. На Паваротти постоянно натыкаешься. На эту огромную женщину, с которой пел Фредди Меркури... как ее... Монсеррат Кабалье, вот! Тоже знаю. О Прокиной слышу впервые, нет такого имени в рейтинге звезд телевидения.
Не спешите считать меня полным профаном. На сайте можно прочитать такое:
Просим принять во внимание, что критика и различные публикации (за крайне редким исключением, в России их не было) будут публиковаться по мере подбора и перевода.
Из русских изданий v лишь одно-единственное интервью с Еленой, взятое 4 года назад Алексеем Париным. Зато огромное число рецензий из английских, американских, французских и других газет и журналов.
Например:
В замечательном исполнении Елены Прокиной вы читаете мысли Татьяны. Вы видите Онегина ее глазами, когда она выбегает на первый план сцены, чтобы поделиться чувствами, которые она не способна более держать в глубине своей души. Вы искренне верите, что после сцены письма жизнь этой девушки изменится навсегда. Интроспекция ее пения незабываема... я никогда раньше не видел Татьяны, которая вокально и физически полностью преображается, как это делает Татьяна Елены Прокиной.
Казалось бы, радоваться да и только. Я и радуюсь. Радуюсь даже тому, что сайт Елены Прокиной (кстати, очень неплохой по дизайну) сделан почему-то в Люксембурге (http://www.euro.lu/veselago/). Судя по адресу, человеком по имени Веселаго.
Но "веселаго" здесь мало. Радуясь за успех Елены Прокиной v посмотрите, как по-королевски выглядит она на обложке престижного оперного журнала! v я огорчаюсь за нас бедных, лишенных возможности не только услышать певицу живьем, v видимо, Мариинка не может обеспечить ей достойных гонораров, v но и слушать ее в записи, смотреть телевизионные варианты спектаклей, читать о ней в прессе.
Мы сами себя делаем страной второго сорта в то время как наши выдающиеся соотечественники изо всех сил стараются сделать нашу страну культурной державой высшего сорта. И им это удается пока.
Пока мы интересуемся только Филиппом Киркоровым и группой "На-на". О, если бы кто-нибудь из них стал мировой звездой уровня Прокиной!
Нам бы уши прожужжали.
Зла не хватает:))
Почитайте хоть здесь про нее, если не сможете пойти на сайт:
Елена Прокина родилась в Одессе, где с тринадцатилетнего возраста начала заниматься пением и актерским мастерством в детской школе-студии при Одесской государственной консерватории. Позже она продолжила занятия вокалом с педагогом Элиной Кочербой. По окончании школы она приезжает в Ленинград и поступает в Государственный институт театра, музыки и кинематографии (ЛГИТМиК), а затем продолжает свое обучение в Ленинградской государственной консерватории (класс педагога Татьяны Лавровой, камерное пение и аспирантура v педагог Кира Изотова).
Еще будучи студенткой аспирантуры, в 1988 году Елена была приглашена в труппу Кировского (Мариинского) театра, где она и дебютировала во многих ведущих партиях v Виолетта ("Травиата"), Татьяна ("Евгений Онегин"), Наташа Ростова ("Война и мир"), Маргарита ("Фауст"), Полина ("Игрок") v и многих других. В 1991 году Елена спела Наташу Ростову в постановке режиссера Грэма Викка оперы Сергея Прокофьева "Война и мир", транслировавшейся телевидением BBC на всю Европу и позже выпущенной фирмой PHILIPS на компакт-дисках и видео.
В том же году Прокина получает Первую премию на Международном вокальном конкурсе Мария Канилья (Maria Caniglia International Vocal Competition v Sulmona, Italy).
В начале 1992 года она поет свой последний спектакль на сцене Мариинки v "Отелло" Верди, где ее партнером выступает Пласидо Доминго. Затем, чувствуя необходимость в улучшении вокального мастерства и отдыха от работы в театре, Елена оставляет Мариинский театр. Она едет в Италию, где занимается с известными педагогами, а также много занимается самостоятельно и готовит новые партии.
В марте 1994 года состоялся дебют Елены на сцене Лондонской Королевской оперы "Ковент-Гарден" в заглавной роли оперы Яначека "Катя Кабанова" (написанной по "Грозе" Островского; поставил оперу знаменитый английский режиссер Тревор Нанн, дирижировал Бернард Хайтинк). Эта постановка стала настоящим триумфом для Елены Прокиной; вся английская критика была, как говорится, у ее ног. Летом 1994 года она дебютирует на знаменитом Глайндборнском оперном фестивале (Англия) в новой постановке "Евгения Онегина" (режиссер v Грэм Викк; дирижировал Эндрю Дэвис). Огромный успех ожидал Елену Прокину и здесь. (Эта постановка была вновь показана в рамках Глайндборнского фестиваля в сезоне 1996 года практически в том же составе; дирижировал маэстро Геннадий Рождественский.) За исполнение этих двух ролей, Кати и Татьяны, Елена была удостоена специального приза - The Evening Standard Classical Music and Opera Award v в номинации "Выдающееся оперное представление".
Ну и так далее. Пять лет триумфа, о котором мы ничего не знаем...
Обидно, Зин, за державу.
Александр ЖИТИНСКИЙ
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Simone Boccanegra in Sydney
http://www.medianotes.com/opera/english/reviews/2000/soh_simone_boccanegra_e.htm
"Elena Prokina as Amelia/Maria with her crystal-clear and nevertheless lovely soprano and Michael Sylvester as Adorno with a tenor of equal quality present the impetuous youth and Amelia at the same time as well a woman, who determines her own fate by her courage and power. In the end she wins at least the hand of her lover, though she is not able to prevent that her father will die by the poison Paolo..."
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