Rusalka . . . . DargomizhskyAlexander Dargomizhsky (1813-1869) has an importance in the history of Russian opera completely out of keeping with the unfamiliarity of his music or even his name. His two most successful operas, Rusalka (1855) and The Stone Guest (completed after his death by Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov), set texts by Pushkin with a care that embodies the composer's credo, "I want sound directly to express the word. I want truth."
Dargomizhsky would have approved of much of the singing in the Wexford Festival's new production of the water-nymph tale Rusalka. The contributions of Anna Maria Chiuri (Natasha), Alessandro Safina (The Prince) and Annie Vavrille (The Princess) were flexible, direct and true.
Oddly, in a cast light on Russian voices in the larger roles, it was a Russian, Maxim Mikhailov, who, as the Miller, left one feeling equivocal.
Igor Nezny's set never really strayed from the grey, grim mill of the opening scene. Neither the colourful costumes Tatyana Tulubieva designed for the royal wedding of Act II nor the baggage-laden production of Dimitri Bertman (much play with money, at-a-distance eroticism, and a manipulative match-maker/jester) ever really punctured for a moment the prevailing gloom.
Conductor Paul Magi didn't always present the orchestra as the persuasive ally of the voices and there was at the end of the evening, when the Prince and his now otherworldly one true love are united in death, a feeling that was inconclusive.
