Notes and Editorial Reviews
This embarrassment of riches remedies a dire situation for Prokofiev song on disc; previously, the choice lay between a handful of elusive classic performances from Vishnevskaya and the mezzo Zara Dolkhanova and most of the rest blowsily travestied by Carole Farley. Now we have nearly everything the composer wrote for voice and piano, carefully distributed between five distinguished Russian singers who could do without the excessively close miking the recording engineers seem to think they need.
Naturalness of declamation, Mussorgsky-style, is vital in the young Prokofiev’s experimental song-writing. Soprano Victoria Yevtodieva tells the story of the Ugly Duckling with perfect poise between childlike simplicity and
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full-voiced narrative, while baritone Andrey Slavny effortlessly holds our attention through the lengthy plaint of a poor city-dweller before the Op. 23 songs sink into self-conscious modernism (and some horrible intonation, inevitably, from Konstantin Pluzhnikov – an old trooper who might have been complemented by a younger, fresher tenor). Each of the three discs balances as best it can these earlier settings of great and good poets with an excess of ‘hail-to-Stalin’ hack-work from Prokofiev’s time back in the USSR – none of the big, distinctive melodies of his large-scale Soviet works here – and a restorative tonic in distinctive folksong arrangements, where mezzo Lyubov Sokolova holds compelling sway as Mother Russia. So much at once, inevitably, is indigestible; explore at leisure.
-- David Nice, BBC Music Magazine
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Works on This Recording
1.
Ugly Duckling, Op. 18 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 12 Minutes 57 Secs.
Language: Russian
2.
Romances (3), Op. 73 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Andrei Slavny (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1936; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 10 Minutes 13 Secs.
Language: Russian
3.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 4, White snowflakes by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 49 Secs.
Language: Russian
4.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 12, The monk by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 26 Secs.
Language: Russian
5.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 2, Green woods by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 38 Secs.
Language: Russian
6.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 1, Summer elderberries by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 4 Minutes 46 Secs.
Language: Russian
7.
Russian Folksong Arrangements (2), Op. 106 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Sergei Alexashkin (Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1945; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 5 Minutes 40 Secs.
Language: Russian
8.
Green Jar by Traditional
Performer:
Sergei Alexashkin (Bass),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Written: Russia
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 48 Secs.
Language: Russian
9.
Songs (7), Op. 79 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1939; Russia
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 16 Minutes 43 Secs.
Language: Russian
10.
Children's Songs (3), Op. 68 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1936; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 8 Minutes 12 Secs.
Language: Russian
11.
To my homeland by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 52 Secs.
Language: Russian
12.
Soldiers' Marching Song, Op. 121 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1950; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 4 Secs.
Language: Russian
13.
Poems (2), Op. 9 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910-1911; Russia
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 8 Minutes 19 Secs.
Language: Russian
14.
Poems (5) of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1916; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 11 Minutes 24 Secs.
Language: Russian
15.
Poems (5) of Bal'mont, Op. 36 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; USA
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 17 Minutes 35 Secs.
Language: Russian
16.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 7, A dream by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 4 Secs.
Language: Russian
17.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 9, Dunyushka by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs.
Language: Russian
18.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 10, I see my friend nowhere by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 56 Secs.
Language: Russian
19.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 8, Behind the forest by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 35 Secs.
Language: Russian
20.
Songs (6), Op. 66 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910; Russia
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 14 Minutes 48 Secs.
Language: Russian
21.
Songs (7) and a March in A major, Op. 89: no 3, The Tankman's Vow by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Sergei Alexashkin (Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1941-1942; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 28 Secs.
Language: Russian
22.
Songs (7) and a March in A major, Op. 89: no 5, The Soldier's Sweetheart by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1941-1942; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 57 Secs.
Language: Russian
23.
Songs (7) and a March in A major, Op. 89: no 6, Fritz by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1941-1942; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 29 Secs.
Language: Russian
24.
Songs (7) and a March in A major, Op. 89: no 2, Song of the Brave by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1941-1942; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
Language: Russian
25.
Poems (5), Op. 23 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1915; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 26 Minutes 30 Secs.
Language: Russian
26.
Songs (5) without Words, Op. 35 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1920; USA
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 13 Minutes 28 Secs.
Language: Russian
27.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 2, Over the bridge by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
Language: Russian
28.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 3, Good Luck by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 25 Secs.
Language: Russian
29.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 4, Golden Ukraine by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 9 Secs.
Language: Russian
30.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 5, Brother for Brother by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 13 Secs.
Language: Russian
31.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 6, Maidens by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 40 Secs.
Language: Russian
32.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 7, The Twenty-year-old by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Andrei Slavny (Baritone),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 5 Minutes 17 Secs.
Language: Russian
33.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 8, Lullaby by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Victoria Yevtodieva (Soprano),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 4 Minutes 31 Secs.
Language: Russian
34.
Songs of Our Times, Op. 76: no 9, From Shore to Shore by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Konstantin Pluzhnikov (Tenor),
Yuri Serov (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 45 Secs.
Language: Russian
35.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 11, Sashinka by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 2 Minutes 57 Secs.
Language: Russian
36.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 3, The bush on the hill by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 12 Secs.
Language: Russian
37.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 5, Brown eyes by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 52 Secs.
Language: Russian
38.
Russian Folksongs (12), Op. 104: no 6, Katerina by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Liubov Sokolova (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 3 Minutes 27 Secs.
Language: Russian
39.
Songs (7) and a March in A major, Op. 89: no 4, Sonata of Kabarda by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer:
Yuri Serov (Piano),
Sergei Alexashkin (Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1941-1942; USSR
Date of Recording: 1995
Venue: St Catherine Church, St Petersburg
Length: 1 Minutes 28 Secs.
Language: Russian
Sound Samples
Gadkiy utyonok (The Ugly Duckling), Op. 18
3 Romances, Op. 73: No. 1. Sosni (Pine Trees)
3 Romances, Op. 73: No. 2. Pumyanoy zareyu (With a Blush)
3 Romances, Op. 73: No. 3. V tvoyu svetlitsu (In your Brightness)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 4. Sneshki Beliye (White Snow)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 12. Chirnets (The Monk)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 2. Zelyonaya roschitsa (The little green grove)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 3. Na goreto kalina (The guelder tree on the hill)
2 Duets, Op. 106: No. 1. Fsyakay Na Sveti-ta Zhenitsa (Everybody Gets Married)
2 Duets, Op. 106: No. 2. Maskofskaya Slavna Put-Darozhinka (The Glorious Moscow Road)
Zilyiony Kufshin (Green Jar)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 1. Pesnya o rodine (Song about the Fatherland)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 2. Stakhanovka
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 3. Nad polyarnim morem (On the Polar Seas)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 4. Provodi (Send-Off)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 5. Smelo vperyod (Bravely Forward)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 6. Shyol stanitseyu Kazak (Through the Village Came a Cossack)
7 Songs, Op. 79: No. 7. Hey, po doroge (Hey, to the Road)
3 Children's Songs, Op. 68: No. 1. Boltunya (Chatterbox)
3 Children's Songs, Op. 68: No. 2. Sladkaya pesenka (Sweet Song)
3 Children's Songs, Op. 68: No. 3. Porosyata (The Little Pig)
K Rodini (To My Homeland)
Soldiers' Marching Song, Op. 121
2 Poems, Op. 9: No. 1. Yest' drugiye planeti (It is of Other Planets)
2 Poems, Op. 9: No. 2. Otchalila lodka (The Drifting Boat)
5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27: No. 1. Solntse komnatu napolnilo (The Sun has Filled my Room)
5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27: No. 2. Nastoyashchaya nezhnost' (True Tenderness)
5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27: No. 3. Pamyat' o solntse (Memory of the Sun)
5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27: No. 4. Zdravstvuy (Greetings)
5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27: No. 5. Seroglazïy korol' (The King with Grey Eyes)
5 Poems, Op. 36: No. 1. Zaklinaniye vodi i ognya (Incantation of Fire and Water)
5 Poems, Op. 36: No. 2. Golos ptits (Birdsong)
5 Poems, Op. 36: No. 3. Babochka (The Butterfly)
5 Poems, Op. 36: No. 4. Pomni menya (Remember Me)
5 Poems, Op. 36: No. 5. Stolbi (The Pylons)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 7. Son (Dream)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 9. Dunyushka
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 10. Ya Nigde Drushka ni Vizhu (I See My Friend Nowhere)
12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104: No. 8. Za Lissochkam (Behind the Forest)
2 Choruses, Op. 66a (arr. for baritone and piano): No. 1. Partizan Zheleznyak
2 Choruses, Op. 66a (arr. for baritone and piano): No. 2. Anyutka
4 Songs, Op. 66b: No. 1. Rastyot strana (The Fatherland Awakens)
4 Songs, Op. 66b: No. 2. Skvoz snega i tumani (Through Snow and Fog)
4 Songs, Op. 66b: No. 3. Za goroyu (Beyond the Hill)
4 Songs, Op. 66b: No. 4. Pesnya o Voroshilove (Song about Voroshilov)
7 Songs and a March, Op. 89: No. 4. Sin Kabardi (Son of Kabarda)
7 Songs and a March, Op. 89: No. 3. Klyatve tankista (The Tankman's vow)
7 Songs and a March, Op. 89: No. 5. Podruga boytsa (The Soldier's Sweetheart)
7 Songs and a March, Op. 89: No. 6. Frits (Fritz)
7 Songs and a March, Op. 89: No. 2. Pesnya smelikh (Song of the Brave)
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