Dmitri Shostakovich - Songs & Romances (Margarita Gritskova; Maria Prinz)

Information

Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich

1. The Dragonfly & The Ant, Op. 4a No. 1
2. Before the Suicide, Op. 21a No. 2
3. For the First & Last Time, Op. 21a No. 4
4. Ballad, Op. 84 No. 1
5. Morning in the Caucasus, Op. 84 No. 2
6. Whence Such Tenderness?, Op. 143 No. 2
7. Not a Drum Was Heard..., Op. 143 No. 5
8. Renaissance, Op. 46 No. 1
9. Sonnet No. 66, Op. 62 No. 5
10. The King's Campaign, Op. 62 No. 6
11. Cradle Song, Op. 79 No. 3
12. Warning, Op. 79 No. 5
13. Pentozalis
14. Zolongo
15. Farewell, Granada, Op. 100 No. 1
16. Little Stars, Op. 100 No. 2
17. Spring Awakening, Op. 109 No. 2
18. Misunderstanding, Op. 109 No. 4
19. Preface to the Complete Collection of My Works & Brief Reflections on This Preface, Op. 123
20. Immortality, Op. 145 No. 11

Margarita Gritskova, mezzo-soprano

Maria Prinz, piano

Date: 2020

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.574031

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Review

Margarita Gritskova is a mezzo who seems destined for some very great things. I have admired her contributions in two of the lesser known operas by Rossini in recordings which Naxos made from their Rossini in Bad Wilbad series. With this new CD I have encountered a completely different and more profound side to this wonderful Russian singer. This is the third release in a series that she has made with pianist Maria Prinz that explores the Russian song repertoire; her Prokofiev CD (review) earned two nominations in our recently published Recordings of the Year. The series has been a happy co-production between Naxos and Bavarian Radio; it is my earnest hope that there will be at least one more future release that examines the songs of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This recital contains selections of the song catalogue of Dmitry Shostakovich presented in almost chronological order. Shostakovich was a prodigiously talented composer who was shadowed throughout his career by the overly intense scrutiny of the Soviet authorities because the despotic Josef Stalin hated his music. While Shostakovich endured no end of hardship because of this, it also helped him to produce some of the most bitingly powerful music of the Twentieth Century. In his songs he produced some very remarkably beautiful works that reveal pain, humour, a great deal of sarcasm and sometimes a touching emotional directness.

Ms Gritskova sings this music with a wonderfully rich and mellow tone that is absolutely even. She has a lively soprano-like upper extension which more than once put me in mind of Galina Vishnevskaya during that singer’s youthful prime. Gritskova imbues each song with the requisite light and shade necessary to bring out the inner details of the composer’s writing. I also find that she has a real sense of commitment to the text of each song. In “The Dragonfly and the Ant” she gleefully differentiates the voices of the two insects. In Lermontov’s “Ballad” she finds both the lyric and dramatic sides of this song about a mermaid luring a man to his death, while his “Morning in the Caucasus” is an evocative romance in which she paints the scene for the listener with soft romantic colourings. In his setting of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet No. 66” she offers some beautiful dark vocal colourings to this song with its barely hidden criticism of the world in which Shostakovich found himself.

Without a doubt my favorite songs on the disc are the deeply haunting Lullaby from the Jewish Folk Poetry cycle, which demonstrates the cruelty of the Czarist and Soviet oppression of the Jews. Then there are two gorgeous Spanish Songs where I particularly liked the lovely Moorish spell that Gritskova weaves in “Farewell, Granada”. Towards the end of the recital, we are treated to the high drama of “Spring Awakening”, which she manages with real gusto, and the deeply biting irony of “Preface to the Complete Edition of my Works and a Brief Reflection Apropos of this Preface”. This song especially shows Shostakovich at his most acerbically critical, as the singer recites all of the different empty sounding titles and positions assigned to him within the Communist Party, which he was publicly coerced into joining in 1960. Throughout the disc pianist Maria Prinz provides a fine carpet of sound on which the singer builds her interpretations. After three recital discs together Gritskova and Prinz seem to be achieving a really good working relationship. The CD is captured in excellent sound, and mercifully Naxos has given us English translations of these Russian songs, which helps to make this disc a true pleasure to spend an hour with.

-- Mike Parr, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
https://www.pizzicato.lu/gutes-panorama-der-lieder-von-shostakovich-exzellent-vorgetragen/

https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.574031&languageid=EN

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Dmitri Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Shostakovich's music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and by the post-Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler. Shostakovich's works include 15 symphonies, 15 string quartets, and a substantial quantity of film music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich

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Margarita Gritskova (born 19 December 1987 in Saint Petersburg) is a Russian mezzo-soprano. She studied in the class of Irina Bogatschewa at the State Academy of Music and graduated in 2010. Since 2012 Gritskova has been a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera. She sang all major roles for mezzo-soprano in the Mozart and Rossini repertoire, as well as others such as Bizet's Carmen. Gritskova appears regularly at renowned festivals and leading opera houses, and was voted the best mezzo-soprano of the opera season 17/18. She also frequently appears together with pianist Maria Prinz in songs recitals.

http://www.margarita-gritskova.com/eng/

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