MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb for
£ 11.13 (UK)/ 12.46 (Eur.)/15.46 (ROW)
postage paid World-wide.
You may prefer to pay by Sterling cheque or Euro notes to avoid PayPal. Contact for details

Purchase button

Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Complete Songs

Full listing at end of review
Joan Rodgers (soprano), Maria Popescu (mezzo-soprano), Alexandre Naoumenko (tenor), Sergei Leiferkus (bass)
Howard Shelley (piano)
rec. St. Michael’s Church, Highgate, London 1994-95
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 8531 [3 CDs: 76:01 + 71:54 + 68:00]



Things couldn’t be handier for the enthusiast. A gatefold card opens to reveal three CDs and a single booklet, which contains a brief two-page introduction and the transliterated texts. For song translations we are guided to a website. Thus the eighty-five songs are cogently presented and at a bargain price.  You’ll doubtless be aware that these are, as they say in horse racing or violin circles, ex-Chandos recordings and were recorded in 1994 and 1995 on three discs in the somewhat resonant surroundings of St. Michael’s Church, Highgate.
 
Four singers undertook the honours  - Joan Rodgers, Maria Popescu, Alexandre Naoumenko and Sergei Leiferkus. At the piano we have that resonant and resilient Rachmaninoff specialist Howard Shelley. The voice distribution was accomplished with sensitive awareness and not only does it make for a varied recital but also each song or group of songs is apportioned to a particular singer and the choice feels right.
 
Many of the songs embrace the sonorous romance of their Russian texts. Nothing shall I say to you is a brief but cogent example of this melancholy trait in the composer’s settings. But it would be wrong to characterize the songs thus.  April! for example is a suitably verdant and ringing celebration, sung, as in the case of Dusk was falling, by the valiant tenor Alexandre Naoumenko. He’s a singer with rather Francophile vocal affiliations – a propensity to use the head voice and whose essentially light timbre is bolstered by some operatic heft when required. It’s a youthful, ardent instrument though one occasionally prone to strain at the top of the tessitura. Note though the ardour of his way with the intermittently Hahn-like Sing not, O lovely one. Where he does strain, as in The Storm, one feels sympathetic; it’s a tough song and his voice is not really suited to it.
 
Sergei Leiferkus has the nobility and gravitas for his election. He’s imposing and sonorous in In the silence of the secret night, the third of the Op.4 set. Fate is a perfect Leiferkus vehicle. Its gravity, its echoes of the motto theme of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and the dignified curve of its melody line are all brought out with balanced awareness by the bass. Even the rather salon romance of the Letter to K.S. Stanislavsky sounds right.
 
Joan Rodgers is a Russian recital specialist. Occasionally her voice can be rather lost in the recorded sound – no fault of hers, this, it’s an acoustical phenomenon. But that’s a rare occurrence. She sings with passionate conviction throughout. And her pleading, yearning declamation in I await you is just as impressive. The simplicity and grace of, say, To My Children are however equally within her grasp.
 
Mezzo Maria Popescu has a finely produced voice – it’s flexible and even of production. I have grown fond of sorrow is a moving song and it’s most movingly sung. She sounds intimately attuned not only to the melodic curve of the settings but also to the sometimes morose but more often introspective intimacy of her chosen settings. Hers are consistently successful performances. 
 
Shelley is an active agent throughout. He relishes those moments of soloistic asperity – and there are plenty – many reminiscent of the solo piano works. But he is beyond that a most sympathetic accompanist. Moments of overt humour are rare but there are some in The Pied Piper where Rodgers and Shelley gleefully explore the tripping avuncularity of the writing.
 
So, time for a conclusion. These decade-old recordings have stood the test of time. Certainly none of the voices – even Leiferkus’s – quite measures up to the greatest exemplars of the Russian vocal school in this kind of repertoire. But in their more equalized and equable way they present a laudably consonant front. Shelley is outstanding. The set is something of a steal.
 
Jonathan Woolf


Full Listing
At the gates of the holy cloister [3:04]
Nothing shall I say to you [1:49]
Again you are bestirred, my heart [2:09]
April! A festive day in the spring [2:04]
Dusk was falling [2:39]
Song of the disenchanted [2:59]
The flower died [3:19]
Do you remember the evening? [2:31]
O, no, I beg you, do not leave Op. 4, no. 1 (1890-93) [1:45]
Morning Op. 4, no. 2 (1890-93) [1:49]
In the silence of the secret night Op. 4, no. 3 (1890-93) [2:43]
Sing not, O lovely one Op. 4, no. 4 (1890-93) [4:20]
Oh, my field Op. 4, no. 5 (1890-93) [4:03]
It wasn't long ago, my friend Op. 4, no. 6 (1890-93) [1:49]
Water Lily Op. 8, no 1 (1893) [1:17]
My child, your beauty is that of a flower op 8, no. 2 (1893) [1:39]
Thoughts, reflection Op. 8, no. 3 (1893) [3:01]
I fell in love, to my sorrow Op. 8, no. 4 (1893) [2:19]
A dream Op. 8, no. 5 (1893)  [1:22]
Prayer Op. 8, no. 6 (1893)  [3:14]
I await you Op. 14, no 1 (1896) [1:46]
Small island Op. 14, no. 2 (1896)   [2:11]
How fleeting is delight in love Op. 14, no. 3 (1896)   [1:32]
I was with her Op. 14, no. 4 (1896)   [1:16]
Summer Nights Op. 14, no. 5 (1896)  [1:36]
You are so loved by all Op. 14, no. 6 (1896) [2:05]
Do not believe me, friend Op. 14, no. 7 (1896) [1:35]
Oh, do not grieve Op. 14, no. 8 (1896) [2:56]
She is as beautiful as midday Op. 14, no. 9 (1896) [2:35]
In my soul Op. 14, no. 10 (1896) [2:34]
Spring torrents Op. 14, no. 11(1896) [2:10]
It is time Op. 14, no. 12 (1896)  [1:33]
Were you hiccoughing, Natasha? [1:33]
Night [3:10]
Fate Op. 21, no. 1 (1902) [7:09]
By a fresh grave Op. 21, no. 2 (1902)  [1:47]
Twilight Op. 21, no. 3 (1902) [2:04]
They replied Op.21 no.4 (1902)   [1:45]
Lilacs Op. 21, no. 5 (1902) [1:59]
Fragment from A. Musset Op. 21, no. 6 (1902)  [1:53]
How peaceful Op. 21, no. 7 (1902) [2:07]
On the death of a siskin Op. 21, no. 8 (1902)   [2:29]
Melody Op. 21, no. 9 (1902)  [3:00]
Before the icon Op. 21, no. 10 (1902) [3:20]
I am not a prophet Op. 21, no. 11 (1902)  [1:29]
How pained I am Op. 21, no. 12 (1902) [1:45]
There are many sounds Op. 26. no 1 (1906) [2:28]
All was taken from me Op. 26, no. 2(1906)  [0:56]
We shall rest Op. 26, no. 3 (1906)  [2:13]
Two farewells Op. 26, no. 4 (1906)   [4:27]
Let us leave, my sweet Op. 26, no. 5 (1906)  [2:18]
Christ is risen Op.26 no.6 (1906)  [2:46]
To my children Op. 26, no. 7 (1906)  [3:28]
I beg for mercy Op. 26, no. 8 (1906) [1:12]
I am alone again Op. 26, no. 9 (1906) [1:46]
At my window Op. 26, no. 10 (1906) [2:54]
The fountain Op.26 no.11 (1906) [1:22]
Night is sorrowful Op. 26, no. 12 (1906) [2:20]
Yesterday we met Op. 26, no. 13 (1906)  [2:54]
The Ring Op. 26, no. 14 (1906)  [2:32]
All passes Op. 26, no. 15 (1906)   [2:32]
Letter to K.S. Stanislavsky [3:16]
The muse Op. 34, no. 1 (1912) [4:10]
In the soul of each of us Op. 34, no. 2 (1912)  [2:15]
The storm Op. 34, no. 3 (1912) [3:36]
A passing breeze Op. 34, no. 4 (1912)   [3:36]
Arion Op.34 no.5 (1912) [2:48]
The raising of lazarus Op. 34, no. 6 (1912) [2:14]
It cannot be Op. 34, no. 7 (1912) [1:35]
Music Op. 34, no. 8 (1912)  [2:23]
You knew hin Op. 34, no. 9 (1912)  [2:13]
I remember this day Op. 34, no. 10 (1912)   [1:33]
The herald Op. 34, no. 11 (1912)  [2:52]
What is happiness Op. 34, no. 12 (1912)  [2:12]
Dissonance Op. 34, no. 13 (1912)  [6:00]
Vocalise Op. 34, no. 14 (1912)   [6:04]
From the gospel of St. John [1:22]
At the night in my garden Op. 38, no. 1 (1916) [1:48]
To her Op. 38, no. 2 (1916) [2:50]
Daisies Op. 38, no. 3 (1916) [2:15]
The pied piper Op. 38, no. 4 (1916) [2:30]
Sleep Op. 38, no. 5 (1916)  [3:20]
'Au "Op. 38, no. 6 (1916)  [2:21]
A prayer [2:33]
All glory to God [1:58]

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.