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MabelJane
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« on: 20:37:11, 11-02-2008 » |
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I'm listening to a CD impulse-bought this afternoon from Oxfam * - called "Russian Romances", it's songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff sung by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, with pianist Oleg Boshniakovich. Includes a booklet with full translations.  Details here: http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Romances-Dmitri-Hvorostovsky/dp/B00000413CI've just listened to the first 5 Tchaikovsky songs so far and quite lovely they are. I'd be interested to know if anyone here is familiar with and would like to comment on this recording. Some mournful Rachmaninoff now; it's very beautiful. It's good to hear such sensitively lyrical singing from Hvorostovsky as I heard him in La Traviata only the other night and was thinking how little I've heard him yet he's so very well known. This on the back cover made me smile: Piano supplied and tuned by Steinway & sonsGood to know it's been tuned!  *Correction: Age Concern! I bought 8 PG Wodehouse books in Oxfam. Another good find - it's my lucky day! |
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« Last Edit: 21:08:57, 11-02-2008 by MabelJane »
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #1 on: 20:54:36, 11-02-2008 » |
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I love that recording, MabelJane; it's just about my favourite song recital and probably the best thing Hvorostovsky has done on disc. The sequence, with two groups of Tchaikovsky songs and two by Rachmaninov, is well judged. I'm especially fond of the Rachmaninov song (track 8 on your disc) Ne poj, krasavitsa, pri mne op.4/4 which is so mournful and yet beautiful. He spins these lovely long phrases and holds you spellbound. This disc really got me interested in the Russian song repertoire. You may also be interested in another recital disc, with more Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov songs, plus a few by Rimsky-Korsakov and 'For the shores of Your Distant Homeland' by Borodin: My Restless Soul.  |
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« Last Edit: 21:02:20, 11-02-2008 by Il Grande Inquisitor »
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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MabelJane
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« Reply #2 on: 21:04:36, 11-02-2008 » |
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I love that recording, MabelJane; it's just about my favourite song recital and probably the best thing Hvorostovsky has done on disc. The sequence, with two groups of Tchaikovsky songs and two by Rachmaninov, is well judged. I'm especially fond of the Rachmaninov song (track 8 on your disc) Ne poj, krasavitsa, pri mne op.4/4 which is so mournful and yet beautiful.
That's the one I was commenting on! It's rare for me to find such a superb CD in a charity shop - it just caught my eye amongst all the pop music. I also found a video of Ingvar Wixell's Rigoletto, filmed on location in Mantua. Again, an unusual find. I haven't watched it yet. Details here: http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Rigoletto-Pavarotti-Gruberova-Furlanetto/dp/B000EQHHJW |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #3 on: 21:14:29, 11-02-2008 » |
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Hvorostovsky's very first disc of Verdi and Tchaikovsky arias is very fine and he recorded a fine Eugene Onegin which has just been released at mid-price by Philips. I see that the Met Onegin, performed with Renée Fleming is now out on DVD - it's cropped up on SkyArts a few times too. He's a frequent visitor London; I've seen a few times in recitals at the QEH. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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MabelJane
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« Reply #4 on: 21:23:13, 11-02-2008 » |
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Could I have heard his Rodrigo in a live relay of Don Carlo on R3 some time ago? Singing rather loudly and insensitively? Apologies if my memory's at fault but I think it was him, singing some Verdi, which failed to impress me at the time. I'm so pleased to have serendipitously stumbled upon your favourite song recital, IGI. |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #5 on: 21:40:46, 11-02-2008 » |
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Could I have heard his Rodrigo in a live relay of Don Carlo on R3 some time ago? Singing rather loudly and insensitively? Apologies if my memory's at fault but I think it was him, singing some Verdi, which failed to impress me at the time. Yes, it was, on 23rd December 2006. Several of us on the old R3 boards were looking forward to it enormously, but it was a huge letdown, the worst of which was Samuel Ramey's dreadful singing...sad to hear a once great voice so shot to pieces. Hvorostovsky has sometimes appeared a bit 'wooden' in Verdi on stage. I thought his Germont was actually very good, both in terms of the vocals, as I'd expect, but in terms of the acting too. There was one moment in the performance I saw with Netrebko, where he slipped out of character for a moment, allowing himself a broad grin at the beautiful pianissimos she allowed herself in 'Dite alla giovine'. Have just found that Don Carlo line-up: Opera On 3
Verdi's Don Carlo
Live from the New York Met
Live from the New York Metropolitan Opera, Margaret Juntwait presents a performance of Verdi's Don Carlo.
A drama of personal, political and religious passion amid the Spanish Inquisition, this epic yet intimate work, based on Schiller, is considered one of Verdi's most profound.
Don Carlo ...... Johan Botha (tenor)
Philip II ...... Rene Pape (bass)
Rodrigo ...... Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone)
Grand Inquisitor ...... Samuel Ramey (bass)
Elisabeth ...... Patricia Racette (soprano)
Eboli ...... Olga Borodina (mezzo)
Orchestra and Chorus of the New York Metropolitan Opera
James Levine (conductor)I'm so pleased to have serendipitously stumbled upon your favourite song recital, IGI. You have prompted me to give it another spin later this evening, MJ. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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MabelJane
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« Reply #6 on: 22:10:12, 11-02-2008 » |
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Yes, it was, on 23rd December 2006. Several of us on the old R3 boards were looking forward to it enormously, but it was a huge letdown, the worst of which was Samuel Ramey's dreadful singing...sad to hear a once great voice so shot to pieces.
Oh yes, in fact I quite possibly added my feeling of sadness at hearing the once great Samuel Ramey sounding so terrible. Thanks for the sleuthing, IGI, I should have done it myself. But I then had to dash to the kitchen to cook a few pancakes - I was meant to leave the batter to sit and do whatever it does for a mere 20 mins or so but ended up listening to the whole of my Russian CD and posting here! Excellent pancakes BTW after all that sitting and doing whatever it does. But that's another thread... |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #7 on: 22:14:29, 11-02-2008 » |
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Could I have heard his Rodrigo in a live relay of Don Carlo on R3 some time ago? Singing rather loudly and insensitively? Apologies if my memory's at fault but I think it was him, singing some Verdi, which failed to impress me at the time. Yes, it was, on 23rd December 2006. ... or possibly even on 12 January 2002 - the above prompted vague memories of a performance from the Met with a different cast and a brief visit to the PW MD collection found a copy of a broadcast with the following cast: Elisabeth - Galina Gorchakova
Eboli - Dolora Zajick
Don Carlos - Richard Margison
Rodrigo - Dmitri Hvorostovsky
King Philip - Samuel Ramey
Grand Inquisitor - Paata Burchuladze
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, conductor Valery Gergiev
Presented by Peter AllenHvorstovsky appears to be having some vocal difficulties, as the performance is punctuated by (highly audible) great intakes of gulped breath, and the phrasing is distinctly choppy. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #8 on: 22:22:05, 11-02-2008 » |
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Hvorstovsky appears to be having some vocal difficulties, as the performance is punctuated by (highly audible) great intakes of gulped breath, and the phrasing is distinctly choppy.
This has been my main worry re his voice in recent years. I'm not sure it's a particular vocal difficulty as a problem caused by singing such long phrases without taking breaths in the usual places. In one of the reviews for the recent Traviata, the reviewer, possibly Edward Seckerson, praising his legendary long phrasing, wrote 'doesn't he need to breathe?'.... well, yes, he does, and often far too audibly. On recordings, I suppose it's possible to get around this. The earlier Met cast under Gergiev is similar to the one Haitink assembled for his Philips recording which I thought was pretty good (the one with all the Russians - Hvorostovsky, Gorchakova, Borodina). |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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MabelJane
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« Reply #9 on: 22:24:10, 11-02-2008 » |
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Super-sleuthing p w! Hmm I wonder. Time flies so it could have been that one. But if someone can confirm that he sang Rodrigo at a steady forte in Dec 06 that'll be the one I'm thinking of. I enjoyed his Papa Germont on Saturday night.
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #10 on: 22:34:33, 11-02-2008 » |
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The genre of the "Russian Romance" (which is effectively the Russian manifestation of the Lied/Chanson tradition) isn't much known outside Russia, so bravo for venturing into it! If you find yourself wanting to extend to new material, there are magnificent songs by Prokofiev (especially "The Angel"), Rachmaninov (stunning works, all of them - my favourites are "Excerpt from de Musset" and "Christ Is Risen"), Medtner, Shostakovich (people forget he wrote Romances!), Gliere, Kabalevsky... Mussorgsky (notably "Songs & Dances Of Death")... in fact there's hardly a Russian composer who didn't write in the genre Please remember these songs are musical settings of poetry - if you can possibly bear to, it's worth following the translations of the texts... Russians know most of the poetry by heart |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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