M. Mussorgsky; N. Rimsky-Korsakov; P. I. Tchaikovsky - Songs and Opera Arias (Galina Vishnevskaya)

Information

Composer: Modest Mussorgsky; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1. Mussorgsky - Hopak
2. Mussorgsky - Eremushka's Lullaby
3. Mussorgsky - Darling Savishna
4. Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich): 1. Lullaby
5. Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich): 2. Serenada
6. Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich): 3. Trepak
7. Mussorgsky - Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich): 4. The Field-Marshal
8. Rimsky-Korsakov - Eastern Song: The Nightingale Enslaved by the Rose, Op. 2 No. 2
9. Rimsky-Korsakov - The Clouds Begin to Scatter, Op. 42 No. 3
10. Rimsky-Korsakov - In Spring, Op.43: 1. The Lark Sings Louder
11. Rimsky-Korsakov - Lullaby of the Sea Princess (from opera "Sadko")
12. Rimsky-Korsakov - Marfa's Scene and Aria (from opera "The Tsar's Bride")
13. Rimsky-Korsakov - Lyubasha's Aria (from opera "The Tsar's Bride")
14. Tchaikovsky - Lel's Song (from opera "The Snow Maiden")
15. Tchaikovsky - Was I Not a Little Blade of Grass in the Meadow?, Op. 47 No. 7
16. Tchaikovsky - Cradle Song, Op. 16 No. 1
17. Tchaikovsky - Why?, Op. 6 No. 5
18. Tchaikovsky - Amid the Din of the Ball, Op. 38 No. 3
19. Tchaikovsky - Again, As Before, Alone, Op. 73 No. 6

Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano
London Philharmonic Orchestra (4-7, 11-14)
Mstislav Rostropovich, piano (1-3, 8-10, 15-19) & conductor (4-7, 11-14)

Date: 1975-1978
Label: EMI

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Review

Undoubtedly one of the great voices, and one of the great singers of the past century. Vishnevskaya’s voice may not be to every taste – it would be surprising if it was, as it is so strongly individual in timbre – but no-one with ears to hear could miss the instinctive musicality and powerful dramatic force of her interpretations.

She was (now in her late 70s, her days of public singing are sadly over) also a great stylist; if you want to hear Russian music sung as it should be sung, then you need look no further. This fine collection demonstrates this convincingly, despite the fact that she hated the recording studio. It is a tribute to her that she has managed to overcome that hatred and to inject a sense of the live performance into these recorded tracks.

There are drawbacks; sometimes the tone deteriorates as she tires; sometimes the intonation is, to say the least, suspect; sometimes the rubato confounds even the attentive ears of husband and accompanist (piano and orchestra) Mstislav Rostropovich. These however are infrequent negatives that are overwhelmingly outweighed by the positives.

She begins with a Mussorgsky group, consisting of a wild Hopak, a haunting Lullaby and the imperious Darling Savishna. Then come the great Songs and Dances of Death, orchestrated by Vishnevskaya’s close friend Shostakovich. She gives an immensely powerful reading of these, and Rostropovich and the LSO bring out the wonderful colours of Shostakovich’s scoring. The first three are superb; in the macabre fourth, The Field-Marshal, however, she seems to strain her voice beyond its remarkable resources in her almost frenzied representation of the story. Some will find this compelling; I found it spilled over into melodrama.

The very finest singing is to be found in the Rimsky-Korsakov numbers. There is a particularly overwhelming moment in the first of these, The Rose and the Nightingale. The piano begins, with a winding, oriental melody, after which the voice follows with its two short, simple stanzas. But in the coda, the piano’s opening phrases re-appear at the top of the soprano range – an outpouring of vocal sound which really does seem supernatural in its beauty. The three items from Rimsky operas are of equal quality, particularly the ‘Lullaby of the Sea Princess’ from Sadko, while the arias from The Tsar’s Bride remind us that this opera is a special love of Vishnevskaya’s, and occasioned her only attempt at opera production.

There is an undoubted drop in the emotional temperature for the group of Tchaikovsky songs, but no drop in artistry or involvement. After the somewhat bumpy ride of the previous tracks, it is good to be reminded that Vishnevskaya could spin a wonderfully sustained and restrained line. She was a highly disciplined, cultured artist as well as, when required, an emotional firebrand.

Despite the occasional lapses, the fact is that she was incapable of producing a boring or disengaged note, and that the best singing here is, quite simply, very great.

-- Gwyn Parry-Jones, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10007/
http://www.amazon.com/Mussorgsky-Tchaikovsky-Galina-Vishnevskaya/dp/B0000C18G7

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Modest Mussorgsky (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as The Five. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period, striving to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers, but some of the original scores are now also available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky

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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844 – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was considered a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Rimsky-Korsakov shaped a generation of younger composers and musicians during his decades as an educator, and is considered "the main architect" of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (25 April/7 May 1840 – 25 October/6 November 1893) was a Russian composer who wrote some of the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. His homosexuality considered a major factor. Tchaikovsky wrote many works that are popular with the classical music public, including his three ballets, six symphonies, Piano Concerto No. 1 and Violin Concerto.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

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Galina Vishnevskaya (25 October 1926 – 11 December 2012) was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist. Vishnevskaya was born in Leningrad and made her professional stage debut in 1944. In addition to the roles in the Russian operatic repertoire, Vishnevskaya also sang roles such as Violetta, Tosca, Cio-cio-san, Leonore, and Cherubino. Composers such as Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich wrote compositions especially for her. Vishnevskaya was married to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich from 1955 until his death in 2007; they performed and made recordings together regularly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galina_Vishnevskaya

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