Prokofiev: War and Peace (Live recording from the Nationaltheater in Munich, March 2023, directed by Tcherniakov)

A colossal work that defies all boundaries: Sergei Prokofiev's monumental setting of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace". The composer has condensed the plot into a compelling sequence of scenes, in which the love story between Natasha and Andrei and the depiction of the Russian army's struggle against the French invasion alternate in striking contrast and are at the same time closely intertwined. How the snobbery of the old aristocracy stands in the way of the happiness of two young people, how a seduction succeeds and a kidnapping fails, how some renounce their love and others fall as heroes – and how, amid all the splendor, people search for a companion: this is what the music tells in its abundance of magnificent themes and moving moments. Dmitri Tcherniakov's production shows a gathering of people who come together in a historically charged space and perform a brilliant ensemble under the musical direction of General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski. This ensemble impresses with an ideal, idiomatically excellent cast of singers led by Olga Kulchynska, Andrei Zhilikhovsky and Arsen Soghomonyan. The production was awarded 'Production of the Year' in the critics' poll of the magazine Opernwelt 2023. The director Dmitri Tcherniakov received the honor 'Director of the Year' for "War and Peace".