THE WITCH AND THE TSAR

Brisk as the winter wind, Katia Kapustin manifests the witch Yaga with a surprisingly youthful timbre, as befits this reinterpretation of the famed Slavic folklore villain Baba Yaga. Here Yaga is a young heroine who is half goddess, rather than a deformed, ferocious old woman. Kapustin's precise enunciation of tricky Russian names and places draws the listener into the harsh and alluring landscape of sixteenth-century Moscow. However, there are times when Kapustin's even, measured tone and volume change in unexpected and inappropriate places. At the end of the story, author Olesya Salnikova Gilmore narrates a discussion of her motivations for this feminist refashioning. This enriching setting of the stage would have better served the listener at the beginning of the audio program, rather than at the end. E.E. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2022]