Based on Pushkin’s Poltava, Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa is set in the context of the late 17th century historic battle in which Tsar Peter the Great defeated King Charles XII of Sweden. The love triangle between the ageing Ivan Mazeppa (Hetman of the Ukranian Cossacks) and Mariya (daughter of a wealthy nobleman Vasily Kochubey) and her young admirer Andrei involves power, political intrigue and deception - and the ultimate undoing of Mariya who becomes unhinged following the execution of her father on Mazeppa’s order. 

While enjoying a successful world premiere at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1884, the opera was slow to establish itself but its popularity has grown, particularly in Russia, but internationally as well. Tchaikovsky unquestionably captured the essence of the subject matter - if at times somewhat laboured and lacking in the inspired melodic sweep so typical of his pen.

The Helikon Opera - appearing in Vienna for the first time - is here presenting a double bill of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and his unfinished, Undine as well as Mazeppa (which they staged, incidentally, in 1999). The company was founded in 1990 and is based in Moscow where their resident venue is the 250-seat Mayakovsky Theatre.

On this particular evening, the motto “less is more” would have served well in general - and in particular regarding activity in the pit. The chorus was placed to the rear of the stage, with seven chairs along the footlights for the soloists as required in their interaction.

In the title role, baritone Aleksei Isayev arguably managed the show’s most successful combination of vocal nuance and refined singing - well utilising his velvet-toned and technically malleable instrument to good effect throughout.  

His Mariya, Olga Tolkmit, gave a passionately-involved reading, underscored by a winning appearance, and enjoying some fine moments when taking the opportunity to lighten her voice to musical and expressive effect. Unfortunately, the temptation for excessive decibels in many of the role’s dramatic moments pressured her essentially lyric soprano into a forced and curdled emission which detracted somewhat from the overall impression.

Mikhail Guzhov was well-cast as Kochubey, with a ringing bass-baritone which well sustained both the role’s weighty demands and its high tessitura, and which capitalised upon an unhindered expressive ability to crown his powerful performance in Kochubey’s grand Act II scene with Orlik.  

Kochubey’s spouse, Lyubov was taken by Larisa Kostiuk - a rich-toned mezzo with an international career in roles such as Carmen, and Azucena to her credit, and with a commanding stage presence to match - but with an unreasonably heavy vibrato now pointing towards appropriate character roles at this stage of her career.

As the requited lover, Andrei, Igor Morozov displayed a lyric tenor of a timbre and stamina to make him ideal for additional opportunities in repertoire by composers such as Smetana, Janáček, Dvorský, et al, while both Ivan Volkov’s nicely-turned Iskra and Georgii Ekimov’s characterful Orlik well-complimented the company.

The chorus was wonderfully disciplined, singing from memory and particularly enthralling in their lyrical moments, while producing rare homogeneity and clean intonation throughout the evening. 

A regular guest conductor with Helikon since 2006, Evgeny Brazhnik led the proceedings with precision rather than with great finesse, with a tendency to wallow in enormous measures of volume from the company orchestra which, on occasion, simply obliterated efforts on the stage.

However, a rare opportunity in an rarely authentic line-up.