Katerina Izmaylova, the final opera in the Mariinsky Theatre's Shostakovich on Stage series, ranks among the most contentious of the composer's works. First performed in 1963, it's a drastic re-working of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, the "tragedy-satire" that offended the Soviet authorities in 1936. For many years, Katerina Izmaylova was central to the repertory in the Soviet Union and beyond, though the recent re-establishment of the original version has led to disputes over the value of the later score. For its detractors, it's an unforgivable act of compromise. Its admirers, of whom Valery Gergiev is one, have always demanded its assessment as a separate work, and argued for its musico-dramatic superiority.

And in many aspects, the work's admirers are right. Contrary to popular opinion, the revision represents neither a toning-down nor a bowdlerisation. The graphic sex scene is replaced by a sonic convulsion of even more devastating impact. The vocal writing, shorn of its expressionistic extremism, is more passionately lyrical, the orchestral writing at once sparser and infinitely more variegated. The "tragedy-satire" has become a visceral, implacable tragedy, which Gergiev, conducting like one possessed, unleashes on the audience with unremitting force.

The playing, meanwhile, is to die for, and it's also hard to imagine the opera better sung. Olga Sergeyeva is a tremendous Katerina, all voracious sensuality, brooding ennui and thrilling high notes. Gennady Bezzubenkov is her appalling father-in-law Boris; Oleg Balashov is her lover Sergey, his caddish nature blatantly apparent from the outset. The production, by Irina Molostova, lets things down a bit, however: strong on images of constrained female sexuality and social hypocrisy, it's less successful when it comes to the scenes of violence and the horrors of the final journey to Siberia. Musically, however, this is shattering, and one of the Mariinsky's great achievements.