What's it like Roy?
I Just listened to it. Composer was born 1913 and this opera (not oratorio) was composed in the early 1970's. More conservative than I thought it would be. There are near quotes of Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-korsakav so if you like the Russian tradition, you'll enjoy this. The language could be from 100 years earlier but lacking the originality. For example, Mussorgsky is a very original voice in the 1870's-80's but in 1970's, it's pastiche...an impersonation. Fortunately, I happen to love Russian music so enjoyed this but afterwords felt it didn't really have much to say except to imitate old Russian style. That is a contrast to Rachmaninoff who looked to the past but had something individual to say. For example, Rachmaninoff's operas are not particularly memorable or his best achievements but you hear his individual voice in those works which makes them worth hearing if you that composer. But here, you can remove that individual voice and you can see, the result is a bit...empty. If you compare him to contemporaneous Ukrainian composers like Epshai, there you find a lineage to the Ukrainian school such as Gliere, but here that line isn't noticed. It's a traditional, late romantic Russian opera written in the 1970s as if the 20th century didn't happen. If that's what you want, you'll enjoy it but I would say, it lacks the original voices of its predecessors. An imitation rather than the real thing.
