Eugene Onegin

A very fine production and one I have no real qualms in recommending!
I must say that my experience of this, most famous of Tchaikovsky's operas, has been somewhat of a disappointment, my first DVD is from the Bolshoi production of 2000, and while it is traditionally staged and fairly well sung, the sound quality is a real let down, muffled in places apart from the coughs, sneezes and audible sirens from outside the theatre. My second was the recent production from Amsterdam, good performance and recorded sound, it was the production that let this one down, I just couldn't get past the cosmonauts! This new DVD, I am glad to say, treads the middle ground between traditional and modern productions, quite minimal at times but nothing to offend, it is well sung and recorded too!
This is a relatively young cast which performs beyond their reputations, with Kristine Opolais being the star of the show. Opolais not only proves that she has a beautiful singing voice, but that she is a consummate actor as well, Tatyana is a difficult role to pull off, but...

A wonderful production
The audio quality of the recording on the Blue Ray disk is very good. The balance between the orchestra and the singers is good and the nuances in the orchestra playing are clearly heard.
Kristine Opolais in the role of Tatanya is excellent, but I was also deeply impressed by Dmitri Korchak in the role of Lensky - and so was the audience, to judge by the ovation he received after his aria at the end of Act II.

Beautiful Onegin
I must confess I bought this despite having several Onegins, because of my favorite present day singing actress. She is Kristine Opalais who is well on her way to superstardom. She did not disappoint me. She sang and acted beautifully, going from the innocent young dreamer to the elegant Princess Gremin. The Lensky was very lyrical reminding me of Lemenshev in his sweet singing. The Olga was very pretty and an excellent Mezzo. The Nurse and Madame Larina were good as well. I found Onegin to be somewhat less imposing in voice and somewhat menacing in his acting. The production was rather surrealistic, but at least brought out the story line. So many productions from Europe either distort or ignore the story altogether. I was disconcerted by the presence of body mikes. I hope the Valencia acoustics do not require them. I spotted them also in the Valencia Ring.

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