Voices of Russian Opera EMI CLASSICS 9280342 [RB]: Classical Music Reviews

Veteran collectors, canary fanciers or Gramophone obsessives will know of Pearl's remarkable series of boxes of antique recordings of Singers of the Russian Imperial Opera. Shame that they cannot be reissued ... or can they? Perhaps Pristine could get together with Pearl who otherwise are sadly dormant these days. Those rich Imperial archives were ploughed also, to a slightly more modest degree, by EMI Classics for the LP line of The Record of Singing. It's an affluent lode and surely will be mined again.

The present set is not an extended history of Russian Imperial opera; not in the Pearl sense. What we have is one disc (CD5) with a light sampling from the surprisingly ambitious Gaisberg project. These were recorded in Russia during 1901-1914. The other four discs in large part use recordings of complete operas made by EMI and its satellites between 1921 and 2005. There's a sprinkling from the 1920s and 1930s, nothing from the 1940s and quite an influx from every decade from the 1950s onwards. Good use is also made of a number of recital discs: Popp in Munich (1987) with Soltesz, Gedda also in Munich with the Belgrade orchestra conducted by Gika Zdravkovitch (1969) and Vishnevskaya in London with the LPO conducted by her husband in the Kingsway Hall (1976). Recording quality inevitably varies and sometimes pretty dramatically although my impression is that considerable effort has gone into making the oldest material sound as good as it can given the technology used.

The title of the set is carefully chosen and you would do well to bear this in mind before formulating any views on what is on offer. It is Singers OF Russian Opera. The singers are not all Russian; not even what we might loosely term 'Eastern Bloc'. Thus we have tracks from Stich-Randall, Popp, Villazon, Lemalu, Gedda, Talvela, Haugland, Lear, Finnila and Tear. Among the 'Russians' we find Chaliapin, Vizhnevskaya, Arkhipova, Petkov, Smirnov, Mokrenko, Christoff, Ouzounov and Bugarinovic; no Atlantov or Reisen or Ivanov.

The scheme adopted organises the first four discs by composer - mostly opera with a smattering of songs. Thus we get all the Glinka extracts - here from Stich-Randall, Gedda, Bugarinovic, Christoff and Chaliapin - then CD 1 moves on to Dargomyzhsky and so on across the next three discs. The Borodin and Mussorgsky assemblages each straddle two discs.

Stich-Randall's Glinka is reminiscent of Netania Davrath. She is a real Donizetti nightingale. In fact the Glinka is something of a bel canto outing but with a dash or ten of Slavic drama. After six extracts and four singers from A Life for the Tsar, in steps Chaliapin with his helter-skelter 1931 Farlaf's Rondo from the 'other' Glinka opera, Ruslan and Ludmila.

We stay in Chaliapin's benign grip for a couple of extracts from Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka. These tracks are much more stagey and vibrantly 'Russian'.

We then move from the early 1930s in one quantum leap to 1950 and to Prince Igor. This involves a stunningly clear recording of Christoff in the Galitsky aria. The next three tracks are from the 1966 Jerzy Semkow set made in Sofia. There's a lush Konchakovna's aria from Penkova - steady as a rock and spiting all those vibrato-wobble expectations. CD 1 ends with a fibrously reedy Todor Todorov in Vladimir's Aria.

CD 2 continues the Borodin extracts with a stern if slightly uninteresting Prince Igor's aria from baritone Constantin Chekerliiski. Christoff has a host of colours in his voice and delivery in Khan Konchak's aria showing why we remember his name. Soprano, the reedy-shrill vibrato-rich, Julia Wiener leads us through the haunting Yaroslavna's Lament which marks the end of the Borodin and Prince Igor sequence.

Next: lots of Mussorgsky - mostly from Boris Godunov: 19 tracks in fact. The stand-outs here are Jacques Mars' Finnish-sounding O ye faithful - suggesting an escapee from Sibelius's Kullervo. Make a note of that name. He impressed me more than his bass brethren Mroz and the rather dull Talvela. Haugland is impressive with Semkow whipping his orchestra along in the supernatural In The Town of Kazan. The breathless Lydia Romanova's Song of the Gnat has the requisite atmosphere. Chaliapin's Clock Scene is a class act in this company - full of colour and character; Evelyn Lear likewise in Marina's Aria. Zareska and Borg are a strong duo in the Marina-Rangoni duet from the 1962 Dobrowen set. Dimitr Ouzounov's Puccinian delivery of Dmitri's Aria is a delectable discovery complete with Cluytens giving his all in the trembling tense orchestral accompaniment. A discovery - for me at least.

The Mussorgsky/Godunov trail continues onto CD 3 with rasping Hiolski's nasal iron-filings Hear ye noble boyars. It's another refugee from the Polish Semkow Boris of 1976. We then jump back to 1962 for Cluytens conducting for Kiril Dulguerov's smooth tenor in The Simpleton's Song. Then 1976 Semkow again with the lightly supplicatory Paulos Raptis Flow flow O bitter tears. We finish the Boris sequence with Boris's Farewell and Death from the 1962 Christoff-Cluytens. The Death is grippingly done - tolling and gloom-laden.

We stay with Mussorgsky for The Field Marshal with Vishnevskaya and the LPO conducted by Rostropovich in 1976. Her soprano is all amber and molasses. The orchestration is by Shostakovich.

Gedda's Why cry and lament is from Act II of Sorochintsy Fair. The Belgrade Phil's saxophone sings the preface to Gedda's sweetly serenading entry. It's a lovely track and the alternation with the sax adds to the effect. Discovery time once more.

Christoff returns with another profoundly deep basso cantante 'plum', this time from Khovanshchina Act V. The 1950 recording (Philharmonia/Dobrowen) belies its 60+ year lineage.

The remainder of the tracks on CD 3 are Tchaikovsky extracts. None of these involve Russian forces: Munich, New Zealand, Belgrade and London. Popp can be heard, clear as a bell, in the tongue-twisting Tatyana's Letter Scene. Villazon's 2005 Lensky Aria and the 2004 Prince Gremin Aria from Lemalu are similarly direct, emotional, transparent and yearningly lyrical. Gedda in 1969 shows a little more of the grain in his voice than he did in 1957 (cf CD 1) but he has used his gifts wisely. There is much here to move the listener in the two Queen of Spades arias he recorded in Munich in 1969. Between these we make a welcome return to Lucia Popp, this time in It is close on midnight already which has about it the buzzing suspense of a night-time raid. Vishnevskaya waves CD 3 to its close with a fast tempo and sprightly Lel's Song - more tongue-twisting, flamingly done, in the grand tradition of Nina Koshetz.

CD 4 bows in with Rimsky-Korsakov. The sun sinks low is a balcony serenade from the folk opera May Night. Gedda despatches it in faultless style. O You dark little wood sees Gedda exploring the bardic deeper end of his range. Vishnevskaya's Lullaby of the Sea Princess from Sadko is voluptuously sung without impeaching the enunciation and fully in keeping with Sadko's supernatural fantasies. From the same opera we next hear Chaliapin in Song of the Viking Guest. It's a stern bardic piece with Chaliapin sounding unaccountably watery when called on to hold a note. Chaliapin was recorded in 1927 and we step back three years to hear the noble half intoning and half serenading Dmitri Smirnov in Nature Sacred Sweet (Snow Maiden, Act II). The sound does little to hide its ninety years. Back to Vishnevskaya for Marfa's Scene and Aria from the Tsar's Bride Act II. She is airy and clear-sounding yet also a virtuoso of character and plot relevance. Her clean high register is memorable - try tr. 6, 1:20. Christoff puts in another appearance for the slowly intoned 1952 Prince Yuri's Aria from Act III of The Invisible City of Kitezh. Here he is both the bardic stentor and the serenading romantic.

In the first of two tracks from Rachmaninov's opera Aleko Gedda treats us to the pliant and adoring Romance of the Young Gypsy. Chaliapin is heard in a 1929 recording of Aleko's Aria shot through with darkness and acceptance of fate.

Farewell Tchaikovsky and Hail Prokofiev with Popp's liquidly melodic What Right Have They from Scene 3 of War and Peace. The two extracts from Ivan the Terrible give us the vivid Song about the Beaver from Irina Arkhipova - a favourite singer in my book given her passion and volatility. Mokrenko is irresistible in the eruptive folk rhythmic Feodor Basmanov's Song - whinnying whistles to the fore. It pre-echoes the more brutal rhythmic pages from Orff's Carmina Burana. Kinetic feral stuff.

Seven tracks from Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk end the disc. All are from Rostropovich's 1978 sessions at Abbey Road. Vishnevskaya smokes and flames with her usual glorious ardour. Other voices encountered here are the sepulchral Petkov, the agile and nasal Tear who is completely distinctive even at this speed, the oleaginous Haugland with his baritonal bass, the lighter-toned Finnila and the introspectively resigned Alexander Malta.

The last CD is packed to overflowing with 23 tracks sampling the great and now pretty much forgotten names of the pre-Revolutionary Russian Imperial Opera (1901-1914). Listening may be a trial for some tender souls but do persist as there is much more than just fascination to be taken away from this time-travelling experience. Maria Michailova is the Donizetti-style nightingale in I look over the bare fields - the first of four Glinka operatic excerpts to point up the composer’s debt to Bel Canto. Kastorsky rather overdoes the gloom but soprano Marianne Tcherkasskaya in O My Ratmir reminds us that Tchaikovsky in his Onegin owed a debt to Glinka. Natalia Yuzhina, singing a rare Serov aria, on the other hand, sets an example in vitality later adopted and inflamed yet further by Vishnevskaya. Labinsky in Rubinstein is tragically mournful. Nina Koshetz who made iconic recordings of a selection of the Rachmaninov songs trills most beautifully for In the quiet of the Night from Rubinstein's The Demon. Baritone, Nikolai Shevelev swings most mellifluously into Epithalamium from Rubinstein's opera Nero. Dmitri Smirnov's voice has an engaging quality in the Napravnik track which compares favourably with that of baritone Ivan Grizunov in the Cui excerpt. Nikolai Figner although accompanied only by piano in an extract from Tchaikovsky's The Oprichnik also radiates character and colourful imagination and so to an even greater degree does the Puccinian Dmitri Smirnov and the similarly direct and engaging Leonid Sobinov. The tellingly radiant Vera Petrova-Zvantseva is heard in Farewell to the Forests from The Maid of Orleans. In least good rough and uneven sound we encounter the imperious Medea Mei-Figner in It is Midnight from The Queen of Spades - fascinating to have and to hear. The staunch bass Lev Sibiriakov was recorded in 1910 in My Lord if I Offend from Iolanthe.

Antonina Nezhdanova - a name from early Melodiya opera sets - is as familiar as those of Sobinov, Sibiriakov and Smirnov. In Gathering Berries (Snow Maiden) she sounds like a blend of the trilling bel canto of Maria Michailova and the volatile chemistry of Vishnevskaya. She also has moments where she seems to foreshadow Netania Davrath - who also recorded Russian operatic highlights for Vanguard. Pity about the fast ticking and disfiguring click in the right-hand channel of her Hymn to the Sun (tr. 22) and in Sobinov's Flowers were blooming from Gretchaninov's Dobrinya Nikitich. Lydia Lipkowska did not impress me greatly in her Iolanthe extract (tr. 17) but certainly redresses the balance in the poignant How Painful It Feels from Rimsky's Snow Maiden. The modern sounding Leonid Sobinov leads us sturdily through The Joyous day departs, also from the Rimsky Snow Maiden. He is a singer whose concentration and control communicates most impressively.

No complaints with this set about the playing time of each disc. Everything is pushed to or close to the limit.

Tully Potter's four and a half page liner essay (Great Russian Voices) hits the spot in quite a small compass given the breadth of his subject. In days long gone we could also have had biographical portraits of each of the singers. This would have been especially valuable in the case of CD 5 with its butterfly flight through the recorded archives created by the brothers Fred and Will Gaisberg. These two men journeyed to Imperial Russia cumbered with recording gear and determined to immortalise and sell recordings of the great singers of Russia. We owe them a great cultural debt.

Did I mention that the booklet does not give us the sung words let alone translations. Also, there's no link to any web pages to make good the paper omissions.

The set achieves what it says on the can: a Russian opera canter through the EMI archives. You have to start somewhere and there is plenty here to satisfy and inform in its own right. It also serves to stimulate curiosity about what else lies with EMI and with other companies who have made recordings of the great voices - many largely unknown to the generality of listeners - who have tackled Russian opera.

This set is uniform with EMI’s other 5 CD boxes in the series: Voices of Italian Opera (4405092) and Voices of French Opera (9280462).

This is a rewarding and fascinating collection despite the dictates that have restricted its sources. It also serves to open doors and reveal rarely heard voices and in some cases neglected music.

Rob Barnett

Full Track-List
CD 1 [73:32]
1 Cavatine et rondo d'Antonida: La Vie pour le Tsar - Acte I - Igor Markevitch
2 Brother, in the darkness: La Vie pour le Tsar - Acte VI - Belgrade Opera Chorus - Nicolai Gedda - Igor Markevitch
3 My poor horse is dead: La Vie pour le Tsar - Acte IV - Belgrade Opera Chorus - Mela Bougarinovitch - Igor Markevitch
4 They begin to guess the truth! (Susanin): A Life for the Tsar - Act IV - Boris Christoff - Igor Markevitch
5 Not so long ago, at home (Susanin): A Life for the Tsar - Act IV - Belgrade Opera Chorus - Boris Christoff - Igor Markevitch
6 Death of Susanin: A Life for the Tsar - Act IV - Belgrade Opera Chorus - Boris Christoff - Igor Markevitch
7 Act 2: Already the hour of my triumph (Farlaf's Rondo): Ruslan and Ludmilla (1987 - Remaster) - Feodor Chaliapin/London Symphony Orchestra
8 Act 1: You young girls are all alike (Miller's aria): Rusalka - Feodor Chaliapin/Georgi Pozemkovsky/London Symphony Orchestra
9 Act 3: Good morrow, son-in-law (Mad Scene and Death of the Miller): Rusalka - Feodor Chaliapin/Georgi Pozemkovsky/LSO
10 Prince Galitsky's Aria (Act 1): I hate a dreary life: Prince Igor - Boris Christoff/Philharmonia Orchestra/Issay Dobrowen
11 Konchakovna's Aria - Jerzy Semkow/Chorus & Orchestra
12 Vladimir's Aria (Prince Igor, Act II) - Todor Todorov/Jerzy Semkow/Orchestra

CD 2 [78:22]
1 Prince Igor's Aria (Prince Igor, Act II) - Constantin Chekerliski/Jerzy Semkow
2 Khan Konchak's Aria (Prince Igor) - Boris Christoff/Jerzy Semkow/Philharmonia
3 Jaroslavna's Lament (Prince Igor, Act IV) - Julia Wiener/Jerzy Semkov
4 Pravolslávnyyel nye umolím boyárin! (Shchelkalov): Boris Godunov, PROLOGUE - Scene One - Jacques Mars
5 Coronation Scene - Martti Talvela/Polish Radio Chorus of Krakow/Jerzy Semkow
6 Pimen's Narrative (Boris Godunov, Act I) - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Jerzy Semkow
7 Kak vo górode bylo vo Kazáne (Varlaam): Boris Godunov, Scene Two - Aage Haugland/Krakow Philharmonic Chorus
8 Song of the Gnat: Boris Godunov - Act II - Issay Dobrowen
9 Ekh, máma mámushka (Fyodor/Nurse): Boris Godunov
ACT 2 - Ana Alexieva/Mela Bougarinovitch
10 Dostig ya vyshey vlásti (Boris): Boris Godunov, ACT TWO - Martti Talvela/Krakow Philharmonic
11 Pópinka nash sidyél s mamkámi v svetlítse (Fydor/Boris): Boris Godunov, ACT TWO - Martti Talvela/Wiera Baniewicz/Krakow Philharmonic
12 In the Cathedral of Ulglich - Bohdan Paprocki/Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
13 Act 2: Ah! I am suffocating (Clock Scene): Boris Godunov - Feodor Chaliapin/London Symphony Orchestra
14 Marina's Aria (Boris Godunov, Act III) - Evelyn Lear
15 Marina Rangoni Duet: Boris Godunov - Act III - Kim Borg - Issay Dobrowen
16 V pólnoch ... v sadú ... u fontána (Dimitri): Boris Godunov, Scene Two - Dimitr Ouzounov
17 Iezuít lukávy krépko zhal menyá: Boris Godunov, Act II - Scene Two - Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
18 Shuisky's Evidence: Boris Godunov - Act IV - André Bielecki - Choeurs Russes de Paris

CD 3 [75:11]
1 Sanovítyye boyáre! (Shchelkalov): Boris Godunov, Scene Two - Andrzej Hiolski/Krakow Philharmonic Chorus
2 Sláva tsaryévichu, Bógom spasyónnomu (Varlaam/Missail/Vagabonds/Dimitry/Krushchov/Lavitsky/Chernikovsky) Boris Godunov - Boris Christoff/Jacques Mars/Dimitr Ouzounov
3 Lyéytes, lyéytes slyózy górkiye (Simpleton): Boris Godunov, Scene Three! - Paulos Raptis/Krakow Philharmonic Chorus
4 Proshcháy, moy syn, umiráyu! (Boris): Boris Godunov, Scene Two - Boris Christoff
5 Zvon! Pogrebál'ny zvon! (Boris/People/Fyodor/Church choir/Boyars): Boris Godunov, Scene Two - Boris Christoff/Ana Alexieva/Milen Paounov
6 The Field-Marshal (Vivo - alla guerra): Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich) - Galina Vishnevskaya/London Philharmonic Orchestra
7 Zachem ty, serdtse, rysayesh i stonesh? (Gritzko, Act 1) (Der jahrmarkt von Sorotschinski: Mein Herz, mein armes Herz) - Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
8 Dositheus' Aria: 'Here on this spot' (Act 5): Khovanshchina - Boris Christoff/Philharmonia Orchestra/Dobrowen
9 Pooskai pogibnoo ya (Tatiana's letter scene) (Act 1): Eugene Onegin - Lucia Popp/Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Stefan Soltesz
10 Kuda....Kuda....: Eugene Onegin - Rolando Villazon/Münchner Rundfunkorchester
11 Prince Gremin's Aria - "Lyubvi fse vozrastï pokornï" (Prince Gremin): Eugene Onegin, Act III - Jonathan Lemalu/New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
12 Prosti, prelestnoe sozdanye (Hermann, Act 1) (Pique Dame: Verzeihe mir, du himmlisch Wesen) (1996 Digital Remaster): Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
13 Uzh polnoch blizitsya (It is close on midnight already) (Act 3): Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) - Lucia Popp/Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Stefan Soltesz
14 Chto nasha zhizn? Igra! (Hermann, Act 3) (Pique Dame: Das Leben gleicht dem Spiel) (1996 Digital Remaster): Pikovaya da - Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
15 Lehl's First Song: The Snow Maiden - Incidental Music Op. 12 (1995 Digital Remaster) - Galina Vishnevskaya/London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 4 [76:22]
1 Solnyshko nizko (Levko, Act 1) (Mainacht: Sonne schon sinket) (1996 Digital Remaster): Maiskaya Noch - Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
2 Oj ty, t'omnaja dubravushka! (Sadko, Tableau II) (Sadko: Ach, du dunkler, schattenreicher Wald) (1996 Digital Remaster) - Nicolai Gedda/Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/Gika
3-4 Lullaby of the Sea Princess: Sleep went along the river (Berceuse): Sadko (1995 Digital Remaster) - Galina Vishnevskaya/London Philharmonic Orchestra
5 Tsar Berendey's Cavatina (The Snow Maiden, Act II) - Dimitri Smirnov
6 Marfa's Scene & Aria: In Novgorod: The Tsar's Bride - Galina Vishnevskaya/London Philharmonic Orchestra
7 Prince Yuri's Aria: 'O vain illusion of glory and grandeur' (Act 3): The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh - Boris Christoff/Philharmonia Orchestra
8 Durch die Ebenen - Romanze des jungen Zigeuners aus "Aleko" [Young Gypsy's Romance] (2013 - Remaster) - Nicolai Gedda
9 Act 2: The moon is high in the sky (Aleko's cavatina): Aleko - Feodor Chaliapin/Orchestra/Lawrance Collingwood
10 Kakoye prove oni imyeyet (What right have they?) (Scene 3): Voina y Mir (War and Peace) - Lucia Popp/Stefan Soltesz
11 No.19. Song about the Beaver (Andante assai): Ivan the Terrible Op. 116 - Irina Arkhipova/Anatoly Mokrenko/Boris Morgunov
12 No.23: Feodor Basmanov's Song (Allegro moderato): Ivan the Terrible Op. 116 - Irina Arkhipova/Anatoly Mokrenko/Boris Morgunov
13 Oh, I don't feel like sleep (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act I) - London Philharmonic Orchestra/Mstislav Rostropovich
14 That's what old age means (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act II) - Dimiter Petkov/London Philharmonic Orchestra
15 Once a lady friend of mine (Lady Macbeth Mtsensk, Act III) - Robert Tear/London Philharmonic Orchestra
16 The police were formed (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act III) - Aage Haugland/Martyn Hill/Oliver Broome/LPO
17 V lesú, v sámoy cháshche yest' ózero (Katerina): Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act IV, Scene 9 - Mstislav Rostropovich/London Philharmonic Orchestra
18 Znáesh li, Sonyétka (Sergey, Sonyetka): Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act IV, Scene 9 - Mstislav Rostropovich/London Philharmonic Orchestra
19 We trudge along day after day (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Act IV) - Alexander Malta/Ambrosian Opera Chorus/London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 5 [77:47]
1 I look over the bare fields (A Life for the Tsar, Act 1) - Marie Michailova
2 Ah, not to me, poor wretch (A Life for the Tsar, Act IV) - Eugenia Zbrujeva/Orchestra
3 They guess the truth (A Life for the Tsar) - Vladimir Kastorsky
4 Ruslan and Ludmilla (Act III) O my Ratmir! - Marianne Tcherkasskaya
5 I shall don my robe of byssus (Judith) - Natalia Yuzhina
6 On desire's soft, fleeting wing (The Demon) - Andrei Labinsky
7 In the quiet of the night (The Demon) - Nina Koshetz
8 Accursed world (The Demon) - Joachim Tartakov
9 Epithalamium (Nero) - Nicolai Shevelev
10 The sun was shining brightly (Prisoner of the Caucasus) - Ivan Grizounov
11 O give me oblivion (Doubrovsky) - Dimitri Smirnov/Orchestra
12 I swear before God and thee (The Opritchnik) - Nicolai Figner
13 In your house (Eugene Onegin, Act II) - Dimitri Smirnov
14 Lenski's Aria (Eugene Onegin, Act II) - Leonid Sobinov
15 Farewell to the forests (The Maid of Orleans, Act I) - Vera Petrova-Zvanceva
16 It is midnight (The Queen of Spades, Act III) - Medea Mei-Figner
17 Why have I not known this before? (Iolanthe, Act I) - Lydia Lipkowska
18 My Lord, if I offend (Iolanthe) - Lev Sibiriakov/Orchestra
19 Gathering berries (The Snow Maiden, Prologue) - Antonina Nezhdanova
20 How painful it feels (The Snow Maiden, Act I) - Lydia Lipkovska
21 Tsar Berendey's Cavatina (The Snow Maiden, Act III) - Leonid Sobinov
22 Hymn to the Sun (The Golden Cockerel, Act 2) - Antonina Nezhdanova/Orchestra
23 Flowers were blooming (Dobrynia Nikitich) - Leonid Sobinov/Orchestra

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