PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

- MAZEPPA

NIKOLAI PUTILIN: Mazeppa
SERGEI ALEXASHIN: Vasilij Kocubej
LARISSA DIADKOVA: Ljubov
IRINA LOSKUTOVA: Maria
VIKTOR LUTSIUK: Andrei
VLADIMIR ZHIVOPISTSEV: Iskra
VIACHESLAV LUHANIN: Orlik
NIKOLAI GASSIEV: Drunken cossack
KIROV OPERA & ORCHESTRA
conducted by VALERY GERGIEV

CD 462 206-2 (3-CD set) DDD
PHILIPS

- This is widely viewed as a very topical opera as it explores events in the history of the Ukrainian battle for independence.

- Ivan Mazeppa (1644-1709), leader of the cossacks, close and trusted friend of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great, and controversial Ukrainian political leader, strikes up an alliance with King Charles XII of Sweden in a battle against the invading Russians (led by his friend Peter the Great. This culminates in the famous battle of Poltava.

- The operatic skew comes with the obligatory love story and numerous acts of treachery. Mazeppa falls for a much younger woman, whos father refuses this suitor's request for her hand in marriage. After the daughter runs away from her father to be with Mazeppa, the father plots his revenge by disclosing Mazeppa's secret to Tsar Peter the Great, that there are plans afoot to form an alliance between the Ukraine and Sweden.