Notes and Editorial Reviews
RAVISHINGLY RUSSIAN
•
Robert Simpson, cond; Houston CCh
•
MSR 1311 (48:47
Text and Translation)
DARGOMYZHSKY
The Storm Has Wrapped the Sky in Darkness.
TANEYEV
The Ruins of the Tower. Evening. Behold, Shadows Have Fallen.
RACHMANINOFF
Panteley the Healer.
CUI
Hidden
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Beauty.
ARENSKY
Nocturne
. The Upas Tree.
SALMANOV
Song.
TCHAIKOVSKY
The Golden Cloud. The Nightingale.
FALIK
Unknown Lady.
KALINNIKOV
The Skylark.
Elegy.
EKIMOV
Kangaroo.
ROM
Vocalise.
GAVRILIN
Chimes:
Nonsense
Get past the title of this disc. In fact, skip the cover entirely, for this recording of Russian secular music uses nonetheless a church as its icon of Russianness. The program contains no real surprises, but is a pleasure to listen to. The music here is all cut from the conservative cloth of the 1880s, even the post-World War II pieces. It is firmly homophonic, not especially harmonically adventurous, even for its day, and tuneful.
The Dargomyzhsky piece that opens the recital, a quiet, moody chorus, is wonderful, and shows the choir at its very best. Each part is clear in the chords and the balance between parts is near ideal. We hear how well each voice is integrated in the second Tchaikovsky piece, which begins with a unison tenor statement answered by the whole choir. The absolutely unified tenor section is wonderful to hear and it moves seamlessly into and out of the rest of the choir. This coherence of part is essential to the success of the Alexander Rom’s Vocalise. The one piece that departs in any measure from the rest of the program is the delightful nonsense song at the end by Valery Gavrilin, a terrific concert-closer.
The 30 voices of the relatively new (1995) Houston Chamber Choir make some wonderful, if not always especially Russian, noises. Their minimal vibrato gives them a clean sound, but robs them of the heft useful in the Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky pieces. Then, too, a couple of the pieces require the occasional low, low, Russian bass, something the choir is not over-endowed with, though the men give it their best shot.
This music will not light up your ears, but it is elegantly sung and a pleasure to listen to. The recording quality is excellent. Recommended for those who simply want to hear good choral singing.
FANFARE: Alan Swanson
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Works on This Recording
3.
Panteley the healer by Sergei Rachmaninov
Period: Romantic
Written: 1900; Russia
Length: 4 Minutes 13 Secs.
4.
Evening by Sergei Taneyev
Period: Romantic
Written: 1881; Russia
Length: 2 Minutes 41 Secs.
6.
Hidden Beauty by César Cui
Period: Romantic
Length: 2 Minutes 26 Secs.
7.
Nocturne by Anton Arensky
Period: Romantic
Length: 3 Minutes 31 Secs.
9.
Song by Vadim Salmanov
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 21 Secs.
11.
Unknown Lady by Yuri A. Falik
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 21 Secs.
12.
The Skylark by Viktor Kalinnikov
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
13.
Elegy by Viktor Kalinnikov
Period: Romantic
Length: 2 Minutes 11 Secs.
14.
The nightingale by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Period: Romantic
Written: 1889; Russia
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs.
15.
Kangaroo by Sergei Ekimov
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 41 Secs.
16.
Vocalise by Alexander Rom
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 45 Secs.
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