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Rachmaninov: Romances / Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ivari Ilja


Release Date: 01/31/2012 
Label:  Ondine   Catalog #: 1207  
Composer:  Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky,  Ivari Ilja
Number of Discs: 1 
Length: 1 Hours 4 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews

Hvorostovsky’s voice is perfectly weighted and his artistry honed by long experience sufficient to give these songs his finest interpretation.

Now in his fiftieth year, Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been singing internationally for almost a quarter of a century. It would be reasonable to expect some small signs of wear in his vibrant baritone. There is perhaps now a trace of roughness where before all was smooth, uninterrupted tone and the top can become decidedly a little rocky when he leans into the note but all in all his baritone remains in remarkably fine shape. The bottom notes are dark and resonant, the middle only a little grainy when he sings mezza voce (as at the end of no.5) and the top G’s continue to ring out Read more thrillingly with only a hint of a flap. Any signs of stress are, in any case, hardly inappropriate in music as desperately passionate as this.
 
Perhaps it is too much to listen to the whole programme at one sitting, given that the preponderance of the music is so melancholy and soul-sifting in that famous Russian idiom. I don’t say that there is a lack of variety in the programme, especially when both singer and pianist interpret with such commitment and passion. Rachmaninov’s melodic gifts are in such evidence but over an hour of such intensity can be wearing. My favourite items so far are the mounting ecstasy of the second song, “Do you remember, the evening?”, the haunting “She is as beautiful as the moon”, opening with strummed arpeggios reminiscent of Schubert’s “Dioskuren” and continuing with melismata in a distinctly Polovtsian minor mode, and “In the silence of the mysterious night” climaxing with a magnificent G-flat and a long-breathed piano D to conclude. I also love the dignified restraint of no.6, so Russian with its rolling underlay and punctuating chords, building to a great cry of pain.
 
This is Hvorostovsky’s first recording on the Finnish Ondine label, with whom he has signed a long-term contract. Although he has recorded some of these songs before, his voice is now perfectly weighted and his artistry honed by long experience sufficient to give them his finest interpretation. It helps to have a native speaker intone texts by some of Russia’s greatest 19th century Romantic poets.
 
The recording is perfect; there is a lovely balance between the singing tone of the piano and the singer’s sonorous baritone. Estonian pianist Ivari Ilja is Hvorostovsky’s regular accompanist and plays wonderfully, with agogic freedom, shaded nuance and great variety of colour.

-- Ralph Moore, MusicWeb International

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Works on This Recording

1.
Songs (6), Op. 8: no 5, The dream by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; Russia 
2.
Songs (6), Op. 8: no 1, The waterlily by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; Russia 
3.
Songs (6), Op. 4: no 5, Oh thou, my field by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; Russia 
4.
Songs (6), Op. 4: no 3, In the silence of the night by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1890; Russia 
5.
Songs (6), Op. 4: no 2, Morning by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1892; Russia 
6.
Songs (6), Op. 4: no 1, Oh no, I beg you, forsake me not by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1892; Russia 
7.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 9, Again I am alone by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
8.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 6, Christ is risen by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
9.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 3, Let us rest by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
10.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 2, He took all from me by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
11.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 15, All things pass by by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
12.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 13, When yesterday we met by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
13.
Songs (15), Op. 26: no 12, Night is mournful by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1906; Russia 
14.
Songs (12), Op. 21: no 7, How fair this spot by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1902; Russia 
15.
Songs (12), Op. 21: no 6, Loneliness by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1902; Russia 
16.
Songs (12), Op. 21: no 4, They answered by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1902; Russia 
17.
Songs (12), Op. 21: no 12, How painful for me by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1902; Russia 
18.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 9, She is as lovely as the noon by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
19.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 7, Believe me not by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
20.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 4, I was with her by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
21.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 12, 'Tis time by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
22.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 11, Spring waters by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
23.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 10, In my soul by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1896; Russia 
24.
Songs (12), Op. 14: no 1, I wait for thee by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1894; Russia 
25.
Do you remember the evening? by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; Russia 
26.
At the gate of the holy monastery by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Baritone), Ivari Ilja (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1890; Russia 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 2 Customer Reviews )
 Listen June 16, 2012 By N  See All My Reviews "With no musical background whatsoever, I have learned that if D Hvorostovsky has recorded it, all should buy it and listen. You will not be disappointed. I have been watching and listening since his first video appeared on the internet." Report Abuse
 The ideal match: Rachmaninov- Hvorostovsky  April 3, 2012 By P. TOSCANI (Lake Ariel, PA) See All My Reviews "I am not a music critic, but a soprano, voice teacher and lover of voices that possess not only an intrinsic beauty enhanced by a high degree of technique, but the rare breed capable of surrendering to the essence of the text and music with complete trust, without any manipulation or calculation. I think that Mr Hvorostovsky is one of those singers, whose performances grace the listener with infinite variety of colors, dynamics and moods, because he immerses himself totally into the soul of his native Russia with unmitigated passion, carried on the wings of consistently gorgeous tones.I just received this CD and it will be a long time before I can remove it from my HiFi set!" Report Abuse
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