Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades 

#Pushkin may have the Queen but #Lemmy has the Ace…

A strangely static performance, and rather too slow for my liking as well. For instance, at the end of the suicide scene in the 3rd act, Churilova (Lisa) just stands there, taking away all the impact of the most dramatic moment of the opera. Aksenov is not a bad singer and has the right age for Herman, but he simply lacks the on-stage presence to portray him convincingly. Contrast his lightning scene (Act I No. 6, "Se non é vero") to Marusin's maniacally psychotic performance in the 1992 Glyndebourne to get what I mean. Video registration is also weird, with lots of close-ups and not nearly enough wide shots, presumably to obfuscate the lack of movement on-stage. In all, a thorough thumbs down from me; Gergiev apparently doesn't get better in isolation.