Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov Le coq d’or (The Golden Cockerel) opera to a libretto by Vladimir Bel’sky. Staged 2002 by Ennosuke Ichikawa at the Théâtre Musical de Paris - Châtelet. Stars Albert Schagidullin (King Dodon), Ilya Levinsky (Prince Guldon), Andrei Breus (Prince Afron), Ilya Bannik (General Polkan), Elena Manistina (Amelfa), Barry Banks (Astrologer), Olga Trifonova (Queen of Shemakha), and Yuri Maria Saenz (Golden Cockerel). Kent Nagano conducts the Orchestre de Paris and the Chorus of The Mariinsky Theatre (Arndrei Petrenko Chorus Master). Stage direction by Isao Takashima with assistant Nobuo Ichikawa; set design by Setsu Asakura with assistant Yasue Itod; costumes by Tomio Mohni; make-up by Suzanne Pisteur; lighting by Jean Kalman; choreography by Kanshino Fujima with assistant Sakon Fujima. Directed for TV by Thomas Grimm. Sung in Russian with subtitles in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Chinese. Released in 2012, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound.

Many artists have pushed the boundaries of taste prevalent in society, but the artists behind Le coq d’or actually risked their lives to bring this to us. The libretto was taken from Pushkin’s fairy-tale style poem written in 1834 as a thinly-veiled criticism of absolute monarchy in Russia. You’ll remember that Pushkin was shot to death 3 years later in what was legally considered a duel between aristocrats but which in reality was a kind of assassination.

The 1st Russian Revolution occurred in 1905; and in 1906, the Japanese defeated Russia in Manchuria. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote Le coq d’or in 1907as a wicked satire attacking the ineptitude of the Russian Tsar Nicolas at the same time that the Tsar reorganized his secret police into the feared Okhrana. The opera alludes to real aspects of Russian history at the time: the Astrologer reminds us of Rasputin and the Queen of Shemakha stands (we think) for the unpopular marriage of Tsar Nicolas to the German princess Alexandra.

Well, angina claimed the composer Nicolas before Tsar Nicolas could. But we should not view Le coq d’or as just another comedy — Rimsky-Korsakov had hide in the game.

Most of the cast and chorus in this production were imported from Russia. But first we see below the English tenor Barry Banks as the Astrologer. You will immediately note the most unusual costumes, wigs, and makeup — this production is performed in the style of Japanese Edo-period kabuki theater! For years we have been searching with no success for Japanese kabuki opera in Blu-ray. But the astonishing vision of Director Ennosuke Ichikawa and his team is the only thing we have encountered even suggestive of this. (Since we don’t know what real kabuki is, we wonder if this show is today a satire of kabuki just as it is was originally a satire of the Russian state.)