1. Giacomo
CARISSIMI (1605-1674): Vittoria
mio core! (Domenico Benigni) [3:36]
2. Antonio
CALDARA (1670-1736): Come
raggio del sol (anonymous) [3:16]
3. Francesco
Bartolomeo CONTI (1681-1732):
Quella fiamma che m’accende (anonymous)
[previously attributed to Benedetto
Marcello (1686-1739)] [4:01]
4. Giovanni
Battista PERGOLESI (1710-1736):
Se tu m’ami (Paolo Antonio Rolli) [2:34]
5. Giuseppe
GIORDANI (1733-1806): Caro
mio ben (anonymous) [3:49]
6. Louis NIEDERMEYER
(1802-1861): Pietà, Signore
(anonymous) [previously attributed to
Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) and
to Rossini] [7:24]
All above sung in Italian - Moscow
Chamber Orchestra; Rudolf Borisovich
Barshai (conductor)
7. Giuseppe
VERDI (1813-1901): Ave Maria
(1880) (liturgical, sung in Latin) Moscow
Chamber Orchestra; Rudolf Borisovich
Barshai (conductor) [5:45]
Wolfgang Amadeus
MOZART (1756-1791)
8. Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165 (liturgical,
sung in Latin) Moscow Chamber Orchestra;
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai (conductor)
[13:46]
The following are sung in Russian (Tracks
9-18)
9. Ridente la calma, K. 210a (152) (anonymous)
(also attributed to Josef Myslivecek,
1737- 1781) - Berta Markovna Kozel (piano)
rec. 1950 [3:50]
10. Komm, liebe Zither, K. 351 (anonymous)
N. Rozov (mandolin) Berta Markovna Kozel
(piano) [1:55]
11. Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen
Liebhabers verbrannte, K. 520 (Gabriele
von Baumberg), Berta Markovna Kozel
(piano) [1:51]
12. An Chloë, K. 524 (Johann Georg
Jacobi) Berta Markovna Kozel (piano)
rec. 1950 [2:01]
13. COSÌ FAN TUTTE, K. 588: Act
I, No. 4—Oh, guarda sorella (Lorenzo
da Ponte) Galina Petrovna Sakharova
(soprano), Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Alexei Matveievich Kovalyov (conductor)
rec. 1953 [4:19]
Gioacchino ROSSINI
(1792-1868)
14. SOIRÉES MUSICALES: No. 9–La
Regata veneziana (Conte Carlo Pepoli)
[3:15]
15. SOIRÉES MUSICALES: No. 10–La
Pesca (Nocturne) (Conte Carlo Pepoli)
- Nadezhda Appollinarievna Kazantseva
(soprano), Anton Ossipovich Bernard
(piano) [4:04]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
(1770-1827)
16. 17. SONGS OF VARIOUS NATIONALITIES
(23), WoO 158A ("NEUES VOLKSLIEDERHEFT"):
2 Russian songs No. 13–In the little
woods; No. 14–Oh, rivers, rivers (traditional)
Alexander Yerokhin (piano), Rostislav
Dubinsky (violin), Valentin Berlinsky
(cello) [1:37] [2:18]
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897)
18. Vor der Tür, Op. 28, No. 2
(traditional) Andrei Alexeievich Ivanov
(baritone), Georgi Borisovich Orentlikher
(piano) rec. 1953 [2:14]
CD 2 [75:14]
(All piano accompaniments by Berta Markova
Kozel, and sung in Russian, unless otherwise
stated)
Robert SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)
FRAUENLIEBE UND -LEBEN, OP. 42 (Adalbert
von Chamisso) Recorded 1953
1. 1. Seit ich ihn gesehen [2:42]
2. 2. Er, der Herrlischte [2:20]
3. 3. Ich kann’s nicht fassen [1:42]
4. 4. Du Ring an meinem Finger [2:08]
5. 5. Helft mir, ihr Schwestern [1:37]
6. 6. Süßer Freund, du blickest
[4:28]
7. 7. An meinem Herzen [0:57]
8. 8. Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz
getan [3:51]
Franz Peter SCHUBERT
(1797-1828)
9. Wiegenlied, Op. 98, No. 2, D. 498
("Schlafe, schlafe, holder, süßer
Knabe") (anonymous) rec. 1953 [2:19]
10. Die Forelle, Op. 32, D. 550 (Christian
Friedrich Daniel Schubart) rec. 1950
[1:36]
11. Du bist die Ruh’, Op. 59, No. 3,
D. 776 (Friedrich Rückert) [5:17]
12. DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN, OP.
25, D. 795: No. 2—Wohin? (Wilhelm Müller)
rec. 1952 [1:51]
13. Ellens Gesang III, Op. 52, No. 6,
D. 839 ("Ave Maria") (Adam
Storck, after Sir Walter Scott) (6.18)
Sung in German, rec. 1953 [6:11]
14. SCHWANENGESANG, D. 957: No. 9—Ihr
Bild (Heinrich Heine) rec. 1948 [2:58]
Ferenc LISZT
(1811-1886)
15. Gebet, G. 331 (Friedrich Martin
Bodenstedt, after Mikhail Y. Lermontov)
rec. 1952 [3:23]
16. Oh, quand je dors, G. 282 (Victor
Hugo) rec. 1952 [6:04]
17. Der Gluckliche, G. 334 (Adolf von
Wilbrandt) rec. 1952 [1:54]
18. Loreley, G. 273 (Heinrich Heine)
rec. 1951 [6:56]
Jacques OFFENBACH
(1819-1880): LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN:
Act IV—
19. Vous me quittez?…Malheureux! Tu
ne comprends donc pas…Ô dieu,
de quelle ivresse
(Jules Barbier) Ivan Semyonovich Kozlovsky
(tenor), Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra
Samuel Abramovich Samosud (conductor)
rec. 1952 [6:08]
20. Léo
DELIBES (1836-1891): Bonjour,
Suzon (Alfred de Musset) rec. 1950 [2:25]
21. Georges
BIZET (1838-1875): Douce
mer (Alphonse de Lamartine) rec. 1950
[2:51]
22. Salvatore
CARDILLO (1874-1947): Core
‘ngato (Catarì) (Riccardo Cordiferro)
(with Orchestra) [4:44]
CD 3 [77:10]
1. Maurice
RAVEL (1875-1937): DEUX MÉLODIES
HÉBRAÏQUES: No. 1—Kaddish
(liturgical) Sung in Aramaic, Nina Svetlanova
(piano) [5:02]
Manuel de FALLA
(1876-1946): SIETE CANCIONES POPULARES
ESPAÑOLAS (traditional)
Sung in Spanish, Nina Svetlanova (piano)
2. I El Paño moruno [1:14]
3. II Seguidilla murciana [1:29]
4. III Asturiana [2:38]
5. IV Jota [3:22]
6. V Nana [1:39]
7. VI Canción [1:21]
8. VII Polo [1:42]
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) - Berta Markovna Kozel
(piano) rec. 1950s (Sung in Russian)
9. Gedichte (51) von Goethe: No. 9—Mignon
IV ("Kennst du das Land?")
[5:42]
10. Gedichte (52) von Goethe: No. 11—Der
Rattenfänger [2:37]
11. Gedichte (53) von Eduard Mörike:
No. 12—Verborgenheit [2:50]
12. Spanisches Liederbuch: No. 13—Seltsam
ist Juanas Weise (Emanuel von Geibel)
[2:18]
13. Spanisches Liederbuch: No. 16—Wenn
du zu den Blumen gehst (Paul Heyse)
[1:25]
Richard STRAUSS
(1864-1949) - Berta Markovna Kozel
(piano) rec. 1950s (Sung in Russian)
14. Allerseelen, Op. 10, No. 8 (Hermann
von Gilm zu Rosenegg) rec. 1950s [2:51]
15. Cäcilie, Op. 27, No. 2 (Heinrich
Hart) rec. 1950s [2:17]
16. Heimliche Aufforderung, Op. 27,
No. 3 (John Henry Mackay) rec. 1950s
[2:41]
17. Morgen!, Op. 27, No. 4 (John Henry
Mackay) rec. 1953 [3:11]
18. Traum durch die Dämmerung,
Op. 29, No. 1 (Otto Julius Bierbaum)
rec. 1950s [2:45]
19. Hat gesagt - bleibt’s nicht dabei,
Op. 36, No. 3 (des Knaben Wunderhorn)
[1:52]
Benjamin BRITTEN
(1913-1976)
20. A CHARM OF LULLABIES, OP. 41: No.
5— The Nurse’s Song (John Phillip)
[2:29]
21. No. 4— A Charm (Thomas Randolph)
Sung in English, Nina Svetlanova (piano)
[1:33]
22. Alexander Sergeievich Dargomyzhsky
(1813-1869): Fair maidens (Alexander
Sergeievich Pushkin), Galina Petrovna
Sakharova (soprano), Berta Markovna
Kozel (piano) rec. 1950 [1:46]
César
Antonovich CUI (1835-1918)
- Berta Markovna Kozel (piano) rec.
1950s
23. Confidant, Op. 57, No. 8 (Alexander
Sergeievich Pushkin) rec. 1951 [0:54]
24. Evening glow (anonymous) rec. 1951
[1:54]
25. Lilacs quickly fading here, Op.
54, No. 5 (René-François
Sully-Prudhomme) [2:37]
26. Pyotr Ilyich
TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893): In
the garden near the ford, Op. 46, No.
4 (Ivan Zakharovich Surikov, after Taras
Shevchenko) Galina Petrovna Sakharova
(soprano), Berta Markovna Kozel (piano)
rec. 1950 [1:50]
27. Sergei
Ivanovich TANEIEV (1856-1915):
Let it sound no more, Op. 17, No. 3
(Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont, after
Percy Bysshe Shelley) Alexander Pavlovich
Dolukhanian (piano) rec. 1947 [2:28]
28. Anton Stepanovich
ARENSKY (1861-1906): SIX
CHILDREN’S SONGS, OP. 59: No. 2 Mutual
guarantee (Apollon Nikoaievich Maikov)
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leonid
Pavlovich Piatigorsky (conductor) [1:14]
29. Alexander
Nikolaievich SCRIABIN (1872-1915):
Romance (c. 1894) (composer) Berta Markovna
Kozel (piano) rec. 1952 [1:27]
Nikolai Karlovich
MEDTNER (1880-1951) - Berta
Markovna Kozel (piano) rec. 1950s
30. Winterabend, Op. 13, No. 1 (Alexander
Sergeievich Pushkin) [3:11]
31. When roses fade, Op. 36, No. 3 (Alexander
Sergeievich Pushkin) [1:54]
32. Spanish Romance, Op. 36, No. 4 (Alexander
Sergeievich Pushkin) [1:54]
CD 4 [70:34]
(All piano accompaniments by Berta Markova
Kozel unless otherwise stated.) rec.
1950s
Peter Ilyich
TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
- Alexander Pavlovich Dolukhanian (piano)
rec. 1948
1. Take my heart away (1873) [1:53]
2. Not a word, o my friend, Op. 6, No.
0 [2 3:1]
3. Both painfully and sweetly, Op. 6,
No. 3 ("Bitter sweet", "Love’s
beginning") [2:15]
4. The Cloud, Op. 27, No. 2 [3:23]
5. Do not leave me, Op. 27, No. 3 [2:29]
6. It was in early spring, Op. 38, No.
2 [2:43]
7. Darkness fell on the earth, Op. 47,
No. 3 [4:42]
8. Sleep, unhappy friend, Op. 47, No.
4 [4:00]
9. Does the day reign?, Op. 47, No.
6 [3:13]
10. Tell me what you are thinking, Op.
57, No. 1 [3:51]
11. Do not ask, Op. 57, No.3 [3:09]
12. The first meeting, Op. 63, No. 4
[1:29]
13. The fires in the room were already
extinguished, Op. 63, No. 5 [2:33]
14. Serenade, Op. 63, No. 6 ("O
Child, beneath thy window") [2:57]
15. Song of Zemfira (1866) ("Dreadful
old Husband") [1:34]
16. Mezza notte (c.1860) Alexander
Pavlovich Dolukhanian (piano) rec. in
Italian, 1948 [1:52]
Sergei RACHMANINOV
(1873-1943)
17. Morning, Op. 4, No. 2 ("I love
you so") rec. 1949 [2:26]
18. The Water-lily, Op. 8, No. 1 (rec.
1951) [1:40]
19. Prayer, Op. 8, No. 6 ("O my
God") Alexander P. Dolukhanian
(piano) rec. 1948 [3:30]
20. Midsummer nights, Op. 14, No. 5
(rec. 1951) [1:40]
21. Do not regret me, Op. 14, No. 8
(rec. 1949) [3:27]
22. The Answer, Op. 21, No. 4 (rec.
1949) [1:41]
23. Lilacs, Op. 21, No. 5 (rec. 1948-53)
[1:48]
24. The Muse, Op. 34, No. 1 (rec. 1952)
[3:41]
25. A Dream, Op. 38, No. 5 ("There
is nothing in the world") rec.
1953 [3:20]
Zarah Dolukhanova was
born in Moscow in 1918. Her parents,
both musical, were Armenian and named
her Zaruhi and encouraged her in her
studies. These began first as a pianist
and then at the age of twelve as a violinist
before she found her true vocation as
a singer. Her debut came in 1939 and
she learned her craft slowly in a provincial
opera house, though she was never to
become reconciled to the operatic world
and after 1944 she never sang on stage
(though she made a number of discs of
operatic arias and indeed some complete
operas in the years following the end
of WW2 when she was a soloist with the
All-Union Radio). She performed much
of the contemporary Soviet literature
– Miaskovsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev,
certainly, but also Gavrilin, Taliverdiev
and Sviridov and the music of many Armenian
composers. She toured widely, recorded,
received awards and honours and then
late in her forties emerged as a soprano.
Guild’s excellent four
CD set reflects this career choice faithfully.
We do get some opera but very little.
The bulk of the set is devoted to her
song recordings – and they prove to
be rather more eclectic than most people
had imagined. Alongside her Rachmaninov
and Tchaikovsky (of course) we have
Schubert and Schumann and also her Aria
Antiche, powerfully and expressively
sung. But there is also her Britten,
de Falla and Ravel to balance the well
known with the discographically more
obscure.
The whole set of four
discs is in fact something of a voyage
of discovery into the art of this superb
mezzo. Though she is indeed full of
expression in the Aria Antiche there
is no over emoting and as was the case
of her famous recordings of Bach and
Handel (none presented here) she is
technically and tonally at an exceptional
level. True the orchestra is recorded
muddily but the voice itself is forward
and strong, lightening magically in
the Pergolesi and raptly soft in the
famous Giordani. The first disc is shared
with her Mozart – sterling runs in Exsultate
Jubilate, again with Barshai’s orchestral
support. The coloratura is impelled
with striking accuracy here, the voice
itself taken on an appositely darker
shade when required. It’s a shame one
of her regular accompanists, Berta Kozel,
was saddled with such a ropey piano
in Ridente la calma but her Mozart is
very persuasive, even if her soprano
partner Galina Sakharova is inclined
to be a bit shrill in their duet from
Così fan Tutte. She was a famous
Rossinian and the two examples here
from Soirées Musicales are apt
reminders of her eminence in the repertoire,
splendidly partnered by a much better
soprano, Nadezhda Kazantseva. In the
Beethoven she has luxury casting; two
members of the Borodin Quartet, Dubinsky
and Berlinsky, who joined pianist Alexander
Yerokhin.
Disc Two is Schumann,
Schubert, Liszt and a few others. Frauenliebe
und –leben is sung, as almost everything
else, in Russian. One can hear something
Ferrier-like in the middle and lower
registers of her voice, strikingly so
in Seit ich ihn gesehen, but
the colour and eagerness of expression
she imparts to Ich kann’s nicht fassen
are admirable as is her quickening vibrato
in Helft mir, ihr Schwestern and
the richly coloured lower voice in the
last song, Nun hast du mir den ersten
Schmerz getan. This was recorded
c.1953 and like all the items in the
set derives from tape copies made many
years ago. I can only assume it’s the
old tape that accounts for the pitch
distortion in the postlude of this,
of all, songs – it’s an unhappy moment
and something should have been done
to mitigate it. Her Schubert is enlivened
by subtle rubati (Die Forelle) and though
her Ave Maria is awfully slow we can
still appreciate the voice production
even if the recording imparts an unwonted
hardness to it. The remainder of this
side is given over to lesser, though
ever entertaining repertoire- she could
lighten delightfully in Delibes and
Bizet.
Her Ravel has the requisite
histrionic projection and the notes,
comprehensive and very informative ones
by Larry Friedman, are honest about
one of her less successful discs, the
de Falla which is rather heavy and certainly
can’t bear much comparison with the
almost contemporaneous de los Angeles
recording (though I must say I liked
the way she floated the line in Nana).
Wolf’s Der Rattenfänger
has suffered a bit of a glitch – a repeated
piano introduction – but what conversational
wit she espouses in Seltsam ist Juanas
Weise and when we reach her Richard
Strauss we find similar virtues; rapture
in Cäcilie, for example,
which is superbly voiced. Her Britten,
as promised, is from A Charm of Lullabies,
which shows that Russian mezzos and
sopranos were singing him before Vishnevskaya
but it’s on her home soil that she is
at her most notable. Most Russian singers
have some Dargomyzhsky in their repertoire
and Dolukhanova must have had her share
because it was one of her tenets never
to sing the same song twice in a city
– even if she’d last sung it twenty
years before. The one example of this
composer’s work is quite delightful.
Her Taneyev is equally impressive and
though the recording is a bit distant,
there’s a sense of curve and sweep to
her Medtner (three little songs lasting
in total seven minutes) that is both
powerful and authentic (the composer
was a famously driving and galvanizing
pianist).
Appropriately Guild’s
survey ends with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov,
twin pillars of her song repertoire.
There’s overwhelming gravity and depth
to her singing of Not a word, o my
friend and The Cloud and
an eager tension thrills through the
rolled piano chords of Does the day
reign? The concentrated and controlled
power and grief that is her recording
of Do not ask are as impressive
as anything in this last disc. And yet
Rachmaninov’s Morning brings
forth true simplicity and there’s some
tiny, wistful vocalise in A Dream.
These should certainly be in the collection
of Russophile song collectors, without
question.
At the time of writing
Zara Dolukhanova is eighty-six. She
teaches at her alma mater, the Gnessin
Institute, and still lives in Moscow
where she paints assiduously. I understand
that this Guild set is offered at a
reduced price; in which case there is
no excuse to avoid the manifold pleasures
of nearly five hours in her captivating,
versatile company.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by Robert Farr
GUILD HISTORICAL THE RUSSIAN LEGACY SERIES
GHCD 2281-84 [4CDs: 73.22 + 76.14 + 77.10
+ 73.34] 