This is the 1966 movie version of Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District", starring famed Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya (1926-2012), who was the wife of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007). I hope that if you're reading this blog, I don't have to tell you Rostropovich was considered to be one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. I watched the movie before Christmas and just loved it, not only because of the beautiful voices, Shostakovich's music and the Russian words I could understand (the movie also has subtitles in English), but also because of the outlandishness of the movie premises, where the actors sing throughout and with the exception of Vishnevskaya the actors are dubbed by opera singers. The singing is remarkable, the acting is great, the music is mesmerizing - a masterpiece.
You can read Vishnevskaya's obituary in the New York Times here. I'll quote the opening paragraph: "Galina Vishnevskaya, an electrifying soprano who endured repression and exile as one of the postwar Soviet Union’s most prominent political dissidents, died on Tuesday in Moscow. She was 86." What a life summarized in those few words!
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