Decca recorded a number
of song collections utilising the services
of Elisabeth Söderström and
Vladimir Ashkenazy. We have already
had the more popular songs by Tchaikovsky
and the complete Rachmaninov, but this
cycle by Chopin, for a long while unavailable,
certainly merits the company of the
other two.
Most of these songs
are early works, and given their provenance
- uncomplicated folk tales - the style
is also fairly simple. These songs are
not only simple in character, the repeated
verses in some are straight repetitions
of earlier verses. In these cases, the
interest in the song needs to be maintained
by the singer, varying tone and interpretation.
Söderström does this to perfection,
ably accompanied by Ashkenazy, a well
known expert in the music of Chopin.
There are certainly no passages here
that would stretch our pianist, but
what he brings to the party is a feeling
of rightness.
There is sufficient
variety to allow uninterrupted listening
straight through; quite feasible without
boredom setting in. This is usually
a good sign that all is well with both
artists and repertoire.
Occasionally there
is some drama in one or two of the songs
to relieve the prevailing folksy atmosphere.
One thinks of Narzeczony (The
Bridegroom) where our hero rides
desperately home only to find his beloved
dead. Also, Leaves are falling,
where the composer, inspired by the
Russian suppression of 1830, uses thematic
material from the slow movement of B
flat minor Piano Sonata.
From the current catalogue,
it looks as though Decca have deleted
the Tchaikovsky songs, leaving only
the Rachmaninov works available. It
is good therefore to welcome these lovely
works back into circulation.
The recording is everything
one would expect from Decca, combining
clarity with warmth and superb piano
tone. The vibrato that sometimes disfigures
this soloist’s recordings is thankfully
absent.
John Phillips