The
first volume in this series, which was issued on Guild GHCD
2250/03, was an award-winner and very favourably reviewed
here (see reviews).
It’s really now just a case of reprising the excellences that
were showered on that previous release, because this one is
just as good. This time it’s a single disc, and ranges over
a rather eclectic programme ranging from items with the Red
Army Chorus and Ensemble, and including a rarity – a 1950
broadcast of excerpts from a little known Gounod opera. Indeed
talking of rarities it seems very much to be the case that
Vinogradov’s recordings are hard to track down. Given their
provenance in this disc – Russian and Czech made discs from
approximately 1946 to 1951 - that seems strange, but nevertheless
it’s true. It accounts for the rather noisy transfers, for
which Immortal Performances apologises in its booklet note.
In compensation, apart from a single side – a song by Khrennikov
– and a few Red Army sides, this disc, allied to volume one,
is believed to contain all Vinogradov’s known recordings.
That inevitably means a collector will pop up clutching some
previously unknown items.
The
recital begins with two Shaporin songs – the composer best
known for The Decembrists. They reveal Vinogradov’s
honeyed lyricism, the voice light, exquisitely deployed, never
forced. His control of legato paragraphs is Schipa-like, the
fluidity, grace and ease of production something of a marvel
in itself. He manages to sustain a requisite body of tone
even when singing softly and with ineffable sweetness, as
he does in Shaporin’s Among the Worlds. That he could
infuse a quickening, urgent verdancy can be shown by his singing
of Tchaikovsky’s I wish I could pour into a single word.
Much of the repertoire is relatively little known, which
is good news for collectors and newcomers alike. But there
are well-known items as well. It’s true that the aria from
Sadko sounds a little rushed but in compensation we
hear a mellifluous lightness and a kind of velvet purity that
captivate. So too in the Massenet, sung in Russian. The Gounod
opera is Philémon et Baucis and this broadcast derives
from a rare LP. There’s a fine, tripping duet with soprano
Kapitolina Rachevskaya, there’s a rich, bass buffo role, and
an enjoyably genial sense all round.
There
is also a sequence of light songs, all sung with idiomatic
ease and eloquence. A mournful accordion haunts Shostakovich’s
strange Song of Peace, whilst the thrum of the balalaika
is a vivid presence in the song by Terentiev. The traditional
song The noise of the town is not heard is an especially
treasurable example of his art, once again with the Red Army
Ensemble.
It’s
a pity that no original matrix or issue numbers were provided.
But that’s a small point. Once more Vinogradov mavens will
need to acquire this tempting disc, which is well annotated
and produced into the bargain.
Jonathan Woolf
Track
listing
Yuri Alexandrovich
SHAPORIN (1889-1966)
Distant Youth Op.12 No.7 – Your Southern Voice is Languid (‘Elegy’)
[2:48]
Among the Worlds Op.18 No.7 – Elegy [2:32]
Georgi Borisovich Orentikher (piano)
Mikhail GLINKA (1804-57)
In My Blood Burns The Fire of Desire
[1:11]
Kirill Petrovich Vinogradov (piano),
recorded 1946
Peter Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-93)
Songs (16) for Children Op.54 No.10 – Lullaby
in a storm [2:40]
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra/Leonid
Piatigorsky, recorded ?1948
I wish I could pour into a single
word (1875) [1:44]
Kirill Petrovich Vinogradov (piano),
recorded 1946
Sergey TANEYEV (1856-1915)
If not my passions Op.34 No.2 [1:23]
The last conversation Op.34 No.1
Yakov Polonsky (piano)
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908)
In Spring Op.43 No.2 – Not the wind blowing from the heights
[1:54]
Kirill Petrovich Vinogradov (piano)
Sadko Scene IV – Without count the
pearls are the ocean’s depths (‘Song of the Indian Guest’) (1896)
[2:58]
Kirill Petrovich Vinogradov (piano),
recorded 1946
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)
Manon Act II – En fermant les yeux
[In Russian] (1884) [2:57]
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra/Alexander
Orlov
Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Philémon et Baucis (1860) [in Russian] – Act
I Duo (Du repos); Act I Quartettino (Prenez place à la table); Act
III Duo (Philémon! Philémon!); Act III Scene (Qu’est-ce que donc?):
Act II finale (Sous le poids de l’âge) [24:01]
Kapitolina Rachevskaya (soprano);
Alexei Korolyov (bass); Vsyevolod Tyutyunnik (bass); Moscow Radio
Symphony Orchestra/Samuel Samosud, recorded 1950
Matvei BLANTER (1903-90)
My beloved [1:33]
Kirill Petrovich Vinogradov (piano)
Konstantin LISTOV (1900-1983)
The Camp on the Don [3:01]
Little message [2:00]
R.G. Rosenhaus (piano)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
Meeting on the Elbe Op.80 No.8 – Song
of Peace [3:06]
Red Army Chorus and Ensemble/Boris
Alexandrov, recorded 1949
Tikhon KHRENNIKOV (1913-2007)
Song about a Song [3:07]
Orchestra/Vladimir Knushevitsky
Konstantin VILBOIS (1817-1882)
The Sailors [3:16]
Andrei Ivanov (baritone)
Naum Gennadievich Walter (piano)
Boris TERENTIEV (1913-1989)
Winter Evening [2:59]
Ossipov Folk Orchestra/Dmitri Ossipovich
Ossipov
Traditional (Russian)
I sit on the stone [2:02]
Red Army Chorus and Ensemble/Boris
Alexandrov, recorded ? 1949
Amid the even valley [2:51]
Red Army Chorus and Ensemble/Boris
Alexandrov
The noise of the town is not heard
[4:32]
Red Army Chorus and Ensemble/Boris
Alexandrov, recorded 1951
Boris SHEREMETIEV (1822-1906)
I loved you [3:22]
Red Army Chorus and Ensemble/Boris Alexandrov, recorded 1951
Georgi Vinogradov (tenor) with accompaniments as above 
