Rimsky-Korsakov based the libretto of his four-act opera of 1895 on the same Gogol short story which Tchaikovsky had used ten years earlier for his opera, The Slippers.
The plot tells how Vakula cheats the devil into carrying him from his Ukrainian home to St Petersburg, to get the Tsarina's boots as a present to win the love of Oxana. David Suchet introduces the performance with readings from Gogol's original. (sung in Russian)
CHORUS OF OPERA NORTH chorusmaster JOHN PRYCE-JONES BBC PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA led by DENNIS SIMONS conducted by EDWARD DOWNES (R)