SERGEI RACHMANINOV (1873-1943): The Miserly Knight, Op. 24.

Description: One of Pushkin's "Little Tragedies", this almost complete setting of the original poet's text (1905) depicts the conflict between a miserly baron and his son and contains Rachmaninov's most accomplished scene as an opera composer - the 23-minute monologue second scene of the baron gloating in a dark cellar over his piles of gold. The composer favors the orchestra throughout in richly colored and sometimes viscerally exciting music of near-expressionistic intensity. And, yes, you may remember a Miserly Knight on Chandos around four years ago. It was an all-Russian recording conducted by Polyansky and it's already out of print. Russian-English libretto. Ildar Abdrazakov (bass), Misha Didyk (tenor), Sergei Murzayev (baritone), BBC Philharmonic; Gianandrea Noseda.