The fiery angel

"Recording of the month: The opera is a masterpiece. Some would call it a flawed masterpiece because of its puzzling libretto ... Visually it's an excellent production in just about every way and absolutely fascinating to watch, well served by fine performances ... As for the performances by the singers, Polish soprano Ewa Vesin has the unenviable task of taking on the role of Renata, considered one of the most challenging in the repertory. The vocal range, screeching, rapid repetitions of words and phrases, and mad scenes are hugely taxing ... Throughout the opera she portrays Renata more convincingly than any other soprano I've encountered on video and CD. English baritone Leigh Melrose makes an excellent Ruprecht ... All in all, the cast is excellent and the chorus sings well ... I must say that I love this opera and this recording is now clearly my first choice. Highest recommendations!".

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"It is a powerful account in nearly every important respect. Soprano Galina Gorchakova, in the titanically demanding role of Renata, is splendid both vocally and dramatically. Baritone Sergei Leiferkus as Ruprecht is equally compelling, and the rest of the cast is fine ... The sets are modest but quite effective in conveying a medieval sort of atmosphere. The costumes are of the period and the religious habits also seem quite authentic. The camera work is excellent and the sound reproduction good ... this is overall a great production of a major masterpiece and the finest of the three recordings of the opera. Highest recommendations!".

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"Without hesitation, I can call this a "good news, bad news" event. The good news is the musical performances by soloists, chorus and orchestra are simply superb, and much of the success must be credited to conductor Constantin Trinks, who captures the full measure of Prokofiev's powerful score with uncommonly adept phrasing and subtlety. Musically speaking this is the finest recording of the opera ever made. Now the bad news: this is a regietheater production that, while probably not disappointing to those who favor such nontraditional and aggressively modern approaches, radically recasts Prokofiev's opera from its Renaissance-era setting to, presumably, a crude mid-20th century mental asylum ... Discarding the religious elements here is akin to taking the whale out of Moby Dick and replacing it with an angry minnow ... Bo Skovhus is excellent as Ruprecht ... [and] again, on purely musical grounds, this new effort on Unitel Edition is the first choice".

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"Key to the success of any performance of this opera is the portrayal of Renata ... Here the role is taken by Polish soprano Ewa Vesin, not one whit fazed by her unflattering outfits, let alone Prokofiev's tortured vocal writing ... Carmine Maringola has transplanted the opera from pre-Enlightenment darkness to a literal netherworld with his set design ... Should you find balletic doppelgängers a distraction in opera this extravaganza won't be for you ... Outstanding among the singers is Leigh Melrose as Ruprecht ... Is there too much focus on the grotesque and the physical? I'd say the music can take it ... This is at the very least a plausible take on one of the weirdest operas in the repertory".

"Die Welt der Andrea Breth, das ist Düsternis, Grauschlieren, Trauer und Melancholie. Und sollte ein Stück allzu heiter sein, dann wird es massiv depressiv seelentapeziert. So wie in Prokofjews "Der feurige Engel" über eine Frau am Rande des Opernnervenzusammenbruchs ... Wir sind im Irrenhaus. Zwischen Klinikbetten, Therapiestühlen ... und einem Käfigberg erlebt die so routiniert wie packend sich sopranreinsteigernde Ausrine Stundyte das diesmal nur eingebildete Martyrium der Renata. Der ihr verfallene Ruprecht (ein wuchtiger Pro der Opernekstase: Bo Skovhus) ist ebenfalls Insasse der geschlossenen Musiktheateranstalt".

"For many years I've been trying to persuade people that 'The Fiery Angel' is Prokofiev's best opera ... It grips us and astonishes from the first note to the last ... The staging by Andrea Breth unfortunately makes a nonsense of all this from the outset ... and it is difficult to become emotionally involved with a medical casebook ... In these unpropitious surroundings, Ausrine Stundyte manages to deliver a truly star performance as Renata. Her voice is powerful, flexible and beautiful, while her delivery is magnetic and her acting superb ... Bo Skovhus as Ruprecht is seriously undermined by the production ... Even so, he is vocally impressive and tries his best to act out the director's instructions with conviction ... Musically, this DVD can stand its ground ... To be as fair as possible, this production saw the light of day during the lockdowns, streamed from an almost empty theatre ... so its vision of illness and claustrophobia allows it to stand as a monument to those times".