Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve

Based on a short story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol, Rimsky-Korsakov's 1895 opera Christmas Eve got off to a bad start: the composer decided to boycott his own premiere after controversy about his planned portrayal of Empress Catherine II (as in Gogol's tale). The opera has been only infrequently staged since then. Yet Rimsky, that master of exquisite orchestration, remained adamant that it had allowed him "to write a lot of interesting music" – including a part for the only recently invented celesta, soon to be a vital element of his colour-rich sound world. This rare, award-winning 21st-century production for Oper Frankfurt was staged by superstar director Christof Loy, with Sebastian Weigle conducting a fine international cast.