Xenia

Chassée de Saint-Pétersbourg par la révolution bolchévique, la jeune Russe Xénia Ossoline affronte les drames et le dénuement de l'exil. Pour protéger sa famille, elle s'installe à Paris et devient mannequin. Sa rencontre avec le séduisant photographe Max von Passau bouleverse son existence. Ils vivent une passion orageuse entre Berlin et Paris mais l'orgueil pousse Xénia à épouser un autre homme. …

Claudio Abbado uses Mussorgsky's text in a condition almost as complete as Mstislav Rostropovich's but avoiding some overlap from variant readings. He brings to his conducting the same vitality and scrupulous attention to small details that are familiar from his work in Italian opera. His cast is good throughout and particularly strong in the leading roles. This is a Boris to live with, one that gets better with repeated hearings.

Johann Gottlieb Graun became a member of the small court orchestra of the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick in Ruppin in 1732, which Carl Heinrich also joined in 1735. With Friedrich's ascension to the throne in 1740, Johann Gottlieb was appointed concertmaster and Carl Heinrich kapellmeister of the royal court. Johann Gottlieb remained until the end of his life closely linked to Frederick the Great, as concertmaster and chamber musician. Whilst his brother Carl Heinrich became an important figure at the new Berlin Court Opera, Johann Gottlieb strongly influenced the musical life of Berlin and early classicism in general as a violinist and composer.