This, the first commercial recording of Eugene Onegin, is distinguished by the outstanding singing of the principals, and the sensitive conducting of Melik-Pashaev and Orlov. Leading the cast, Nortsov is outstanding with his psychologically acute portrayal of Onegin, while one of the Soviet era’s greatest tenors, Ivan Kozlovsky, takes the role of Lensky. Two conductors share the performance, Melik-Pashaev, late chief conductor at the Bolshoi, and Orlov, who in 1948 conducted a complete recording of the same opera.