Sergei Prokofiev: The Gambler – Opera in four acts and six scenes (HD 1080p)

From the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, December 2012
Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Valery Gergiev – musical director and conductor

Sergei Aleksashkin – a Retired full general in civilian clothes
Tatiana Pavlovskaya – Pauline, the full general’s step-girl
Vladimir Galuzin – Alexei, tutor of the full general’s children
Larisa Dyadkova – Babulenka
Nikolai Gassiev – Marquis
Alexander Gergalov – Mr Astley, a rich Englishman
Nadezhda Serdyuk – Mlle Blanche, a demi-mondain
Andrei Popov – Prince Nilsky
Oleg Sychev – Baron Wurmerhelm
Andrei Spekhov – Potapych

Sergei Prokofiev: The Gambler – Opera in four acts and six scenes
Libretto by the composer after the novella of the same name by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Prokofiev flows in the veins of the Mariinsky Theatre’s musicians, and has moreover done so for a long time; and the fact that, under Gergiev’s baton, the orchestra and the opera company performed all of Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonies, all of his concerti and all of his operas more than once is here of fundamental significance. All the senses and all the emotions are presented here by the orchestra in full on an immense yet refined palette of sounds, with a full understanding of both the text and subtext of the events, in the lively action and with Gergiev’s inherent magic.