Musically, the performance rarely disappointed. Mark Ermler, music director of the Bolshoi Opera, knows this work intimately and proved it. His conducting caught the shadings of the first act and did what could be done to disguise the blatancy of the second. Sheri Greenawald was a more healthy and obvious Natasha than the role ideally requires, but she sang with her usual professionalism. The Soviet baritone Vladimir Chernov delivered Andrei's tortured monologues in clear-toned, almost tenorial upper tones and was believable as the gentle humanist and war-hater. Peter Kazaras as the perfect gentleman Pierre and James Hoback as that nasty little seducer Anatol also were persuasive.
Seattle Opera’s opening night performance brought the house to its feet even before the final orchestral cadences sounded, and Seattle critics doled out generous praise in the following day’s newspapers.
