Levsha (The Left-hander)
Barbican Centre, London EC2
4 stars

A MECHANICAL flea, given to his dead brother during a visit to England, years later catches the attention of Russia’s tsar Nicholas I.

He’s particularly intrigued by the gift because not only can it recite the alphabet but convincingly dance the Lancers Quadrille too.

In an exercise of one-upmanship over the English, he decides to have it refashioned and employs Levsha, a respected if modest craftsman from Tula, to do the job. The flea is duly reprogrammed to sing Russian letters and dance the energetic barynya folk dance and dispatched with Levsha and an assorted entourage to London.

The English are naturally impressed and are soon keen to keep Levsha by marrying him off. But his nostalgia gets the better of him and he heads for home by ship, forming a drunken partnership with the mate. Yet back in St Petersburg, he’s shunned by a tsar whose interest has been a passing fancy and he’s abandoned to die a solitary death.

Based on a satirical story by Nikolai Leskov (1831-95), whose Lady Macbeth Of The Mtsensk District was made into an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich, the libretto firmly belongs in the Nikolai Gogol tradition of sharp social commentary.

Despite an hour-long delay before its British premiere, Levsha is given a highly impressive performance by the Mariinsky Opera under Valery Gergiev’s direction.

Rodion Shchedrin’s richly descriptive and emotive score may lack the memorable panache or quality of more familiar themes and arias of western operas but, permeated with Russian folklore rhythms, it’s a toe-tapper throughout, with a mesmerising orchestral evocation of stormy seas during Levsha’s return voyage.

The exquisite coloratura soprano and superb acting skills of Kristina Alieva (pictured) make the flea the focus of the evening and while tenor Andrey Popov was appropriately timid and withdrawn as Levsha, his voice perhaps lacks sufficient definition to project tragedy or pathos.

Yet there is an abundance of vocal class in the infectious gusto of the excellent cast and the magnificence of the choir in its Greek chorus role is one to savour.