I've been reading Richard Taruskin and how neglected Rimsky-Korsakov has been. If you take away his war horses Scheherazade, Russian Easter, Antar (to a lesser degree), The Golden Cockerel, and Capriccio Espagnol, you have quite a number of unsung works. I was introduced to this Opera through the writings of Taruskin and discovered what he calls the "rusky" sound and how this motif appears in so many of not only his works but others in the circle.
Tom
Tom