Alexander Dargomyzhsky - Romances (Anastasia Prokofieva; Sergey Rybin)

Information

Composer: Alexander Dargomyzhsky

1. Au bal
2. Upon the expanse of heavens 
3. Sierra Nevada is shrouded in mists... (second version)
4. I am in love, beautiful maiden
5. La sincère
6. Sixteen years
7. Thou and You
8. How often I listen...
9. Jamais
10. Night Zephyr (first version)
11. Vanne, o rosa fortunata
12. Foolish one, I still love him!
13. The secret garden
14. The fire of desire burns in my blood
15. Ô, ma charmante
16. I won't tell anyone
17. I am saddened
18. Dieu qui sourit
19. Don't call her heavenly (second version)
20. Spanish romance
21. The youth and the maiden
22. You'll soon forget me
23. Don't ask
24. Enchant me, enchant!
25. We parted proudly
26. I loved you

Anastasia Prokofieva, soprano

Sergey Rybin, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Stone Records

https://stonerecords.co.uk/album/the-secret-garden/

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Review

Alexander Dargomyzhsky is little known today but historically he was an important bridge between the pioneering Glinka and “The Mighty Handful”, primarily for his operas, of which The Stone Guest (Pushkin’s version of the Don Giovanni story) is the best known. Like Glinka he spent a lot of time in Western Europe and was influenced by French composers like Meyerbeer and Berlioz (he met both of them) and also inspired by French poetry (Hugo, whom he also met). Back in Russia Pushkin was the great inspiration – as he of course was to most other Russian composers during the 19th century. He was a follower to Glinka in striving for a national Russian musical language, but of that little is discernible in the songs on the present CD. Here his model is if anything the Central European parlour song, melodious and rather simple, highly agreeable and middle-of-the-road. The internationalism is further underlined by his choice of poems. The majority is Russian but there are also texts in Italian and French. Moreover we can hear authentic Spanish rhythms and there are several references to Spain also in the texts. One of the finest songs is the setting of Metastasio's Vanne, o rosa fortunata (tr. 11), and the two Victor Hugo poems Ô ma charmante (tr. 15) and Dieu qui sourit (tr. 18) are also very attractive. Of the Russian poets Pushkin dominates with seven poems, of which the very last I loved you (tr. 26) is particularly beautiful. But in general the songs are charming and easy to like. They may not be on the level of Tchaikovsky’s or Rachmaninov’s best efforts but Dargomyzhsky has a niche of his own that is well worth exploring. Sergey Rybin’s extensive liner notes are also utterly valuable to get a full picture of the composer’s background and development.

The hang up is, unfortunately, some of the singing. Anastasia Prokofieva has obviously a busy international career and has several previous solo recitals to her credit. My colleague Ian Lace recently extolled a disc with songs by Reynaldo Hahn (also on Stone Records) recorded a couple of years ago, and I agree that basically she has a beautiful voice and her pianissimo singing is ravishing (listen to the end of I loved you (tr. 26)), but the tone often becomes hard and shrill in the upper register and at forte her vibrato can be disturbingly wide. On the credit side I am full of admiration for her care over nuances. My advice to prospective buyers is to sample before buying. As for Sergey Rybin’s accompaniments I have only the highest praise.

Bottom line: Agreeable songs well worth investigating but the singing may not be to everybody’s liking.

-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International

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Alexander Dargomyzhsky (14 February [O.S. 2 February] 1813 – 17 January [O.S. 5 January] 1869) was a 19th-century Russian composer. He was already known as a talented musical amateur when in 1833 he met Mikhail Glinka and was encouraged to devote himself to composition. Dargomyzhsky composed several operas, including The Stone Guest, his most famous work. Besides operas, he also composed numerous songs, piano pieces, and some orchestral works. Dargomyzhsky's compositions bridged the gap between Mikhail Glinka and the later generation of The Five and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

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

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Anastasia Prokofieva is a lyric soprano who was born in Russia. She was trained in Moscow, Rome, Milan and London.

http://anastasiaprokofieva.com/

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Sergey Rybin was born in the city of Tomsk in Siberia (Russia). He studied in Novosibirsk, Moscow and London.

https://www.sergeyrybin.com/

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