Pushkin Romances

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Product Description Operatic superstar Dmitri Hvorostovsky has become the supreme interpreter of the Russian Romance, with its rich resource of music and poetry.This album offers seventeen songs, or 'romances,' all composed to texts from works of Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet. The composers represented here have helped define the true meaning of the RussianRomance, and have created some of the world's greatest song literature. Choosing only romances inspired byPushkin texts, Hvorostovsky has upped the ante to make a musical statement no other singer has attempted. Review 5 Star Recording, 5 Star Performance "...Bringing them all to life is Hvorsotovsky's performance -- passionate, brooding or forceful with Pushkin's flowing lines, in a manner which might be a bit overpowering in less emotional music, but is exactly right for these songs. The more so, because it isn't wild or uncontrolled in the bad old Slavic style; his dark baritone has lost remarkably little of the suave sheen that distinguished his 1990s romance collections (Philips), and his word-sense and diction remain exemplary, in Tchaikovsky's 'Nightingale' for example. Estonian Ivari Ilja is an equally spirited accompanist. Some recitals, however worthy, if played straight through may send the unwary critic's nose sliding down into score or keyboard. This one kept me wide awake and fascinated." -- Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine, August 2010"...there's a particularly Russian ecstasy and agony in Pushkin's lyrical poetry that requires a broad musical brush to do it proper justice. This seems bred in the artistic bone for Hvorostovsky, so there's an almost conversation style at the start of I Recall a Wonderful Moment, with the most delicate shading in the vocal tone which rises to an impassioned climax in the final verse when the poet conjures up a vision of his beloved... Nikolai Medtner's might setting of To a Dreamer is given the full treatment, with pianist and singer dueling for melody. No prizes for guessing who wins here, though Ivari Ilja is a worth opponent at the keyboard and he does delicious things with the oriental strains in Rachmaninov's 'Don't Sing to Me, Fair Maiden.' Despite his formidable vocal horsepower, Hvorostovsky can be silky and subtle when required, with a lower register that feels like stroking thick pile velvet... ...Altogether more interesting is The Crimson Forest Sheds its Attire by Georgi Sviridov, another composer from the Soviet era. It is to Hvorostovsky's credit that this and Vlasov's slighter lyrics are sung with the kind of conviction that only a great artist can muster." -- Christopher Cook, International Record Review, July/August 2010Dmitri Hvorostovsky sports his best bedroom eyes on the cover of his new album, Pushkin Romances. The opera hunk milks his sex appeal visually and vocally in this recording of 17 songs composed to the writings of Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet. It's a follow to his Tchaikovsky Romances, released last year, also accompanied by Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja. The silver-haired baritone, who recently performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, liquefies the listener's ear with fervent interpretations of works such as Glinka's The Fire of Longing Burns in My Heart and Rachmaninov's Don't Sing to Me, Fair Maiden. It's always been tenors who make me weak in the knees. But my girlish loins tremble at the elegant, expressive sounds that emerge from this man's throat. -Elizabeth Withey -- Edmonton Journal- June 15, 2010Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Pushkin Romances can be seen as a companion to his 2009 Delos release, Tchaikovsky Romances, which also features pianist Ivari Ilja. A remarkably versatile poet, Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) provided the source material for the vast majority of significant nineteenth century Russian operas, including Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, as well as texts that have served as the basis for hundreds of song settings. The 17 songs Hvorotovsky sings here are the work of ten composers and span nearly a century, from the mid-1830s to the mid-1930s. Most of the major nineteenth century Russian composers have works included, except for Mussorgsky, and the twentieth century is represented by Nicolai Medtner and the more obscure Alexander Vlasov and Georgiy Sviridov. The songs are warmly Romantic and unabashedly expressive, and those by Rimsky Korsakov, Cui, Medtner, and Rachmaninov are especially attractive and memorable. With his large, dramatic baritone, interpretive sensitivity, and long familiarity with these songs, Hvorotovsky is the ideal interpreter for this passionate repertoire. If there is any critique of the album, it's that, with a few exceptions, the songs tend to be on emotional overdrive, and taken all together they can be a little overwhelming, particularly when Hvorostovsky brings to them the expressive heat and fervor they call for. Pianist Ilja likewise pulls out all the stops and plays with dramatic intensity. Listeners might appreciate the recital best when it is taken in several smaller portions. Delos' sound is clean, warmly ambient, and very present. -- Stephen Eddins, All Music GuideDmitri Hvorostovsky's new CD from Delos is programmatically one of his most enjoyable in recent years. It features ten Russian composers' varied settings of poems by the seminal poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837). Working with his frequent accompanist, Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja, Hvorostovsky sounds terrific and explores some repertory new to him [ Glinka's "Ya pomnu chudnoye mgnovenye"]. It is a relief not to hear the deep breaths and "heavy lifting" he sometimes brings to his Quixotic pursuit of Verdi roles that lie beyond his natural scope; here, most of the singing is resonant, smooth-surfaced as marble, with the soft dynamics well judged. The disc should prove popular among his many fans and anyone seeking out a judicious but fresh cross-section of Russian songs based on Pushkin's verse, from bel canto of the 1830s to late-Soviet neo-Romanticism. Recorded recitals of Pushkin romansy (art songs) tend to make for interesting listening; the LP era offered a brilliant one from the late Irina Arkhipova. Most recently, Joan Rodgers paired with Malcolm Martineau for a worthwhile survey. By and large, Hvorostovsky and Ilja veer away from the most obvious repertory choices. The program proceeds in logical chronological order from Mikhail Glinka [ "Priznaniye"] (1804-57, deemed the father of Russian music, as Pushkin was of Russian literature -- appellations in both cases symbolic rather than strictly accurate) to Alexander Vlasov [ "Bakhchisaraysky fontan"] (1911-86). Then it oddly jumps back for Tchaikovsky's "Nightingale" and Rachmaninoff's "Do Not Sing, Maiden Fair" before ending with Georgy Sviridov [ "Ronyaet les bagyyanyi svoi ubor"] (1915 -98), more or less the Russian Samuel Barber, whose fine songs Arkhipova and Hvorostovsky have both championed. One wonders whether Delos insisted on the inclusion of Rachmaninoff's magnificent but thrice-familiar nostalgic gem so that there would be one "top ten" song to push for airplay. In any event, it's not the Siberian baritone's best offering here, although it is perfectly fine on its own terms: Hvoro stovsky can reduce his tone, but the easy atmospheric melismas and emotional specificity of a Nicolai Gedda are not quite his. Unlike some superstars whose recording companies have the temerity to market their first-ever attempts at a recital, Hvorostovsky has been actively programming Russian romansy for decades and is a practiced, generally ingratiating interpreter. The words are clear, nothing on the musical plane is fudged, and some feeling is brought to bear in the flow of beautiful sound. Hvorostovsky has often revealed his idolization of Pavel Lisitsian, and as a vocalist he in many ways honors his tradition. That said, there's something missing -- an emotional interiority and finely graded verbal shading that the very best song singers possess. Just occasionally, Hvorostovsky allows his voice to take on operatic dimensions beyond the ideal compass of even the loudest songs here. Ilja provides excellent support, possessing the technique for the Schumannesque anthem Borodin made of the schoolboy declamation favorite "For the shores of thy faraway homeland" and the Lisztian arpeggiated flourishes of Nikolai Medtner's striking "Winter Evening" . Maya Pritzker's program notes are concise yet rich in detail and observation. -- Opera News, David Shengold, September 2010Few writers of any nation can compete with the remarkable popularity of Russia's Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) among composers. One meticulous musicologist has determined that 1,000 composers have used 500 different works by Pushkin for more than 3,000 compositions, including operas, ballets, and more than 2,000 songs ("romansy'' in Russian). On this disc, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the superstar heart-throb Russian baritone, croons through a rich and varied selection of 17 Pushkin songs by 10 Russian composers, ranging from familiar ones by Mikhail Glinka and Pyotr Tchaikovsky to lesser known offerings by Nikolai Medtner and Alexander Vlasov. Using his burnished, manly voice mostly to ravishing effect, Hvorostovsky strikes a felicitous balance between classical restraint and bottomless wintry despair. Especially fine are his refined, musically astute readings of Rimsky-Korsakov's dreamy "The Clouds Begin to Scatter,'' Tchaikovsky's rustic ballad "Nightingale'' and the bleakly nostalgic "The Crimson Forest Sheds Its Attire'' by Soviet composer Georgi Sviridov. Its last verse ("I drink alone . . . ''), delivered in a near-whisper, will reduce even the most jaded listener to tears. Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja provides equally distinguished accompaniment. -- Harlow Robinson, Boston Globe, November 7, 2010I know of no other country that has honored poets as much as Russia; think of the way the US honors pop stars and you come close to the idea. No poet has been as honored in Russian history as the short-lived romantic poet Alexander Pushkin. Hvorostovsky sings a collection of Pushkin romances composed by the likes of Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhskiy, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cesar Cui, Nikolai Medtner, Alexander Vlasov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Georgi Sviridov. -- Public Radio Delmarva - July 20, 2010