---
product_id: 31355920
title: "Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk"
brand: "shostakovichjansonsgrimm"
price: "RM5"
currency: MYR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.com.my/products/31355920-lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk
store_origin: MY
region: Malaysia
---

# Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk

**Brand:** shostakovichjansonsgrimm
**Price:** RM5
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk by shostakovichjansonsgrimm
- **How much does it cost?** RM5 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.my](https://www.desertcart.com.my/products/31355920-lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk)

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## Description

Product Description           Shostakovich's musically brilliant and ingeniously panoramic opera about love, lust, power and oppression is fabulously well played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in this authoritative production. Stage director Martin Kusej builds on formidable musical strengths to forge a relentless drama that explores with emotional conviction the shadowy, layered boundaries between victims and perpetrators. First-rate protagonist Eva-Maria Westbroek is phenomenal in her gripping interpretation of Katarina, compelling the entire cast, including the choir, to almost unbearable realism in their portrayal of timeless human weaknesses.Press Reviews"...a first-rate protagonist in Eva-Maria Westbroek, a Katerina of Jean Harlow-like allure, who had all the vocal power and stamina that the role demands…" (The Financial Times) "Mariss Jansons, an inspired interpreter of Shostakovich, conducts a searingly dramatic performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk...with the glorious sounds of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra bringing beauty as well as power. The casting is strong, with Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title-role bringing out the poignancy of her situation, as her love for the workman, Sergei, turns sour and finally tragic, a role well sung and acted by Christopher Ventris." (The Penguin Guide)"This is a wonderful production. It goes right to the spirit of the opera without dishonesty and pretence. After all it's hypocrisy that created the situation in the first place. " (Musicweb International)CastEva-Maria Westbroek (Katerina Lvovna Ismailova)Christopher Ventris (Sergey)Carole Wilson (Aksinya)Vladimir Vaneev (Boris Timofeyevich Ismailov)Lani Poulson (Sonyetka)Ludovít Ludha (Zinovy Borisovich Ismailov)Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Mariss JansonsProductionCompany: De Nederlandse OperaStage Director: Martin KušejDisc InformationCatalogue Number: OABD7031DDate of Performance: 2006Running Time: 236 minutesSound: 2.0 & 5.0 PCMAspect Ratio: 1080i High Definition / 16:9Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, IT, NLLabel: Opus Arte             .com          Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a lurid tale of sex, murder, and corruption, premiered in 1934 and was a success until Stalin saw it two years later, resulting in a Pravda review that viciously condemned it. It was later replaced by an expurgated version, now called Katerina Ismailova after the work's principal character. The original version has now reclaimed its place on international stages. The heroine is the daughter-in-law of Boris, a greedy, lecherous merchant, and the frustrated wife of his impotent son. Katerina poisons Boris and when her husband returns she and her lover, Sergei, kill him too, burying him in the cellar. The body is discovered during their wedding party. Haunted by guilt, Katerina confesses and the newlyweds are consigned to Siberia. When Sergei takes up with another woman, Katerina pushes her into the river and then jumps in herself.  Director Martin Kusej keeps the narrative moving inexorably to its fatal ending while indulging in broad satirical portraits of the symbols of society's power to crush the individual. Katerina is a tragic heroine trapped in a cage-like structure that serves as the merchant's house, her bedroom (bare but with a collection of shoes that would satisfy Imelda Marcos), and later the prison transport where she meets her end. Some of the satire is broad--the policemen are out of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. And there's abundant acreage of human flesh on display, along with a near-rape and enough consensual sex to warrant an "X" rating. But it all fits a tale where the orchestra is often in porno territory, as in the famous trombone glissandos so prominent in Katerina and Sergei's first coupling. Kusej's only serious flaw is at the end, where he has Katerina lynched by her fellow-prisoners though the text clearly has her committing suicide by drowning.  This production has the advantage of one of the world's great orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw, and its conductor, Mariss Jansons. They do everything brilliantly, whether it's a yearning string passage or a coarse depiction of on-stage brutality. As Katerina, Eva-Marie Westbrook is compelling, singing well and acting with convincing authority. Christopher Ventris' Sergei looks, acts, and sings like a burly seducer should. Boris, the dirty old man, is Vladimir Vaneev, whose ample bass and acting present a fully-rounded figure that goes beyond the part's stage villain aspects. Video director Thomas Grimm makes it all lucid on disc, the cameras rarely venturing away from what must be seen. It all adds up to a powerful performance of a powerful opera. --Dan Davis

## Images

![Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71MozpmRiFL.jpg)
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Laying bare body and soul
  

*by J***F on Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2014*

Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is an opera more heard about than seen. The facts of its notoriety are well known. After opening in 1934 in Leningrad and Moscow, the opera catapulted the 29-year-old composer to superstardom. Within two years, it had been performed 83 times to sold-out houses in Leningrad, nearly 100 times in Moscow, and reached the stage in London, Stockholm, Zürich, Copenhagen, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, New York, and even Cleveland.Then on Jan. 26, 1936, Stalin showed up at the Bolshoi to see what the fuss was about -- and all hell broke loose. The Great Leader, entourage in tow, stormed out of his box before the show was over. Two days later an editorial on Pravda's front page condemned the opera and its composer. Lady Macbeth soon disappeared. Shostakovich, declared an Enemy of the People, feared for his life.After watching Mariss Jansons conduct Lady Macbeth with Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role in this 2006 Amsterdam staging, the surprise is not that Lady Macbeth upset Stalin, who slaughtered millions on a whim but was a prude on matters sexual. The surprise is that Shostakovich wasn't marched out and executed on the spot -- which I don't doubt would have happened had Stalin witnessed this particular production.I've seen my two-Blu-ray set from start to finish three times, and I can hardly take in the daring performance Westbroek delivers. I believe there are times she forgets where she is, forgets who she is, so complete is her commitment to the role, so white-hot is her involvement in realizing the multilayered character of Shostakovich's Katerina Ismailova.Katerina is a bored, rich housewife stuck in a provincial backwater. Her impotent husband has not been able to consummate their marriage, and while he is away on business, she takes as her lover a wandering rake named Sergey who has just begun working in the family factory, then murders the abusive father-in-law who catches her with Sergey. When her husband returns, she and Sergey murder him, then try to flee with the family's fortune before they are arrested and sent to Siberia.Somehow, Westbroek overcomes our revulsion at Katerina's crimes and, without absolving her of guilt, evokes pathos for her suffering, her isolation, her own betrayal by Sergey with another female prisoner. Katerina wants Life. She wants to be kissed hard, to taste blood, to know what is it to feel truly alive. Actualizing Katerina on stage as this true-to-life woman is no small achievement. Westbroek does it.Describing the virtues of this overwhelming production could grow to Dostoyevskyian proportions. Christopher Ventris polishes his muscular portrayal of Sergey in Barcelona's 2002 Lady Macbeth 
  
Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk / Secunde, Ventris, Kotcherga, Vas, Clark, Nesterenko, Capelle, Anissimov, Barcelona Opera







  
  
    . The whole supporting cast deserves praise, including Alexandre Kravets, who enacts Shostakovich's version of the drunken porter who gets up in the night to relieve himself in Shakespeare's Macbeth. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra plays as only this world-class orchestra can play. On the podium, Mariss Jansons is so absorbed that the sweat is dripping off his chin within 15 minutes. The camera work, directed by Thomas Grimm, is dazzlingly right.That camera work is notably effective when Katerina and her Seryózha first make love, as runaway music throbs from the orchestra and pulsating strobe lights heighten the entire episode, right down to its descending trombone glissando denouement.Which brings up a major caution. On the back cover is printed a warning: "This production contains stroboscopic light effects, nudity and scenes of a sexual nature." To which might have been added: graphic violence and bloodshed. If such elements offend you, avoid this.Shostakovich's orchestration is modern but accessible. Some people shy away from Russian opera because they say the language doesn't sound musical, but Westbroek does indeed sing. Beautifully. She shreds the heartstrings. Listen to her moan, "Seryózha, Seryózha," toward the final moments of the opera, and you'll understand as you never could otherwise the mournful motif that rises in the fourth movement of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, composed 24 years after Lady Macbeth was crushed.The strongest recommendation for this Lady Macbeth perhaps comes, by accident rather than design, from Westbroek herself. At the end, when the curtain rises to reveal her standing alone to receive the ovation she is due, she puts her hands on her head with a look of astonishment on her face, as though she herself cannot believe what she has done. She has laid it on the line, body and soul, heart and voice, given every ounce of her being to this performance. She barely holds back the tears.It's a feat Westbroek might not be able ever to duplicate. She doesn't have to. Thanks to Opus Arte's stunning Blu-ray, the whole world can hear it and see it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A Triumph of Subversion
  

*by D***G on Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2011*

One has to admire the courage of Shostakovich ( or wonder at his folly ) for creating such a damning indictment of Stalin's police state just as the purges were reaching their climax. This lends a historical dimension to what is without doubt one of the richest operas in the literary and musical domains in the entire repertoire, modern or ancient. Other reviewers have done justice to the plot and the large cast of ( mostly ) sleazy characters around whom it is built to display the greed, envy and lust that pervade the core of the human spirit. It is a bleak commentary on humanity, as deserved in our day as in the time of the Great Dictator, and no one emerges with their reputation untarnished ( that is, if they are still alive at the end ), yet the impact upon the receptive listener and viewer is of exhiliration rather than despair. This excitement is largely the product of the magnificent orchestral work performed by Jansons and the Concertgebouw, backed up by the powerful chorus and the fine camera work that captures these extended moments in all their ugly majesty. Think of Francis Bacon's geatest canvasses and you will understand where I am coming from. Director Martin Kusej has cleverly updated the decor to our own times, and set the action in a series of spare cubes and rectangles that pare down the action to its essentials, and except for the dying moments, lends piercing clarity to the compex and busy activity on stage. This comment leads, in fact, to the finale itself, for Kusej has been accused of changing the ending. I do not see it that way. Katrina's preceding soliloquy expresses her wish for death by drowning, and nothing that follows rules out the fulfillment of that wish. Nor does the libretto. It seems that Kusej is trying to convey the image of rising water as the stage clears to reveal the dead, so that the drowning is suggested surrealistically as it has to be, given the fact that the constraints of this set allow no room for the river that one can imagine borders their temporary stopping place. It is how Salvador Dali might have done it if he had landed the job of building the sets.Back to the music. I consider this the finest orchestral writing that the composer ever produced, his major symphonies notwithstanding. No one who is timid about modern opera need be terrified by anything in this work. They will not find much to hum about, but the intense congruity of words with music pushes the plot forward and exposes the characters down to their very skeletons. Nothing so revealing is to be found in the superficially more entertaining pre- 20th Century operas, although late Wagner and Verdi come close. Its model is Berg's Wozzeck, that other towering musical drama of our time (no, I am not forgetting Peter Grimes, number 3 on my list ). The singing and acting are hardly distinguishable and could not have been better overall. Ventris' sexy performance has elicited some harsh words, but for me he gives a convincing interpretation of the role: after all, he is not singing Parsifal here as he has done with great distinction elsewhere. Westerbroek, as all seem to agree, dominates the cast. She compellingly projects the unsavoury appetites of the heroine, as well as the remorse that they bring. Visually and vocally she has an Olympian quality that doubtless accounts for her success in Wagnerian roles. Five cheers and five stars for a remarkable DVD, that stimulates, satisfies, and provokes in equal measures.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Intense
  

*by J***N on Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2023*

A brilliant and fearless staging of a great opera.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-10*