The Gambler : Tcherniakov, Barenboim / Staatskapelle Berlin, Didyk, Toczyska, etc (2008 Stereo)

Prokofiev: The Gambler, Op. 24

Misha Didyk (Alexei), Kristine Opolais (Polina)
Vladimir Ognovenko (General), Stefania Toczyska (Babulenka)
Stephan Rugamer (The Marquis), Sylvia de la Muela (Blanche), Viktor Rud (Mr Astley)
Staatskapelle Berlin / Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Dmitri Tcherniakov, stage director

Running Time - Opera: 135 min.
Picture: 16:9
Sound DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo
Booklet: English, German, French

Blame it on the Russian Revolution: it took Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) only a few months to write his early opera 'The Gambler' between October 1915 and March 1916, but problems arose during rehearsals in January 1917, and the premiere in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd) had to be cancelled when the first revolution broke out in February.

This first version of the work was never heard, since the composer revised the tempestuous score eleven years later, reducing it and eliminating what he considered 'padding'. The work was premiered in this version in Brussels in 1929. Based on Dostoyevsky’s novel of the same name, 'The Gambler' is a dark study of human failings and the corruptive power of money.