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Those with an aversion to sentimentality would perhaps
do well to pass pharisaically by on the other side of the street. Hvorostovsky
gathers and performs with sincerity, utter aplomb and warm-mocca fluency
nineteen songs from a tradition distantly related to Neapolitan song.
Anthologies of Italian bon-bons of this type can be heard from the likes
of Caruso, Gobbi, Carreras and Hvorostovsky himself (Delos DE 3290). There
are also obvious similarities with the world of the Viennese operetta
inhabited by Waechter and Wunderlich.
The arrangements are skilled, warm, caressing and humming
strings peppered with the silverpoints of balalaika, accordion, gusli
and domra. Style of Five contribute the folk instrument embellishments.
The arrangements are full blown orchestral articles. No attempt is made
to adopt folk textures. An excellent example is to be found in The
Lonely Coach Bell Rings (tr.10) which is of the warm dancing serenade
character of episodes in Tchaikovsky’s Onegin and Prokofiev’s Kotko
and Story of a Real Man. This is the music that lightens the
operetta-musical heritage of the Soviet Union. One of these days these
light musical works will be revived. The Soviets were no less productive
than the Germans in the field of easy-on-the-ear entertainment.
In the notes Hvorostovsky declares his sympathy for the
genre from which these songs are plucked: "My father has been the strongest
influence in my musical life. As far back as I remember, I loved to listen
to him sing and play the piano, especially his favourites, the old Russian
Romances. Recording this program is my tribute to his love and devotion
- to music and to me. I dedicate this album to my father." Hvorostovsky's
father is a life-long fan of the Romances and the son was raised in a
household where these works were sung or heard on radio or gramophone.
Alexander Hvorostovsky was at the recording sessions.
The words are printed in the booklet both in transliteration
and in English translation side by side. The poets include Tyutchev, Lermontov,
Tolstoy, Pushkin and Turgenev on this recording) these Romances offer
a unique opportunity for the listener to experience the intense emotional
beauty of these works. The songs are well recorded without undue highlighting
but with the prominently placed - no room for fastidious balances here.
It’s just not that sort of collection.
If there is a weakness it is in the iterative effect
of the collection. The expression of unremitting heroism, immersed nobility
or tear-stained reflection can be too much of a good thing. Affecting
in small salvoes of three or four at a time.
Rob Barnett
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I
met you, my love
No,
it's not you I love so fervently
Only
once
Bright
is the Night
I
remember the charming sound of the waltz
O,
if only I could express in sounds
Do
not awaken memories
The
coachman's song
In
the wide open field
The
lonely coach bell rings
Misty
morning
But
I love you, nevertheless
The
troika speeds, the troika gallops
The
autumn wind moans mournfully
At
that fateful hour
I
loved you
The
weeping willows slumber
You
cannot understand
Shine,
shine, my star
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Moscow Chamber Orchestra/Constantine
Orbelian 