Olga Borodina & Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Arias / Duets (1998)

The concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in April last year was one of those rousing ringside events where the supporters gather as at a great party and everybody has a tremendous time cheering and asking for more. The recording was made the following month in Henry Wood Hall, and it preserves much of the sparky atmosphere of the live occasion though of course leaving to us the cheering (which I’m afraid in this establishment is reduced to a grunt or two, usually of approval, from the depths of the armchair).

Exciting as was the prospect of a joint recital, it did raise the question of the programme: duets for mezzo and baritone do not swarm to mind, especially considering that the nationality of the two artists would suggest the inclusion of something Russian. In fact, The Tsar’s Bride, which certainly did not occur to me as a likely source, provides what is probably the most cherishable part of the programme. The three passages given here impress as the work of a composer writing in intensely characteristic vein, and the solos find both singers at their best. In hers, Borodina shows just the imaginative sensitivity that seemed lacking in the duet, where Lyubasha’s pleading so cries out for the caress of portamento and other enticements that were once familiar enough to singers of the Russian school. Still, these two are fine and often thrilling representatives of the modern generation. In the Barbiere group, Hvorostovsky brings many an original touch, as well as magnificence of voice and vitality to the “Largo al factotum”, and in the duet responds to Rosina’s wiles with lively appreciation. Borodina’s “Una voce poco fa” is another brilliant piece of work, marred only by the jerky novelty of her “Io sono docile” which is the kind of thing that should be tried out at rehearsal and benignly dismissed. Special moments in the Favorita solos include the quiet beginnings of both arias, Borodina’s launching of her cabaletta and Hvorostovsky’s modulation of tone from the severity of the recitative to the plaintive “Vien, Leonora”. The duet carries dramatic conviction and is graced by a sometimes flawless legato. Fine operatic grandeur is also achieved in the scene between Dalilah and the High Priest, Hvorostovsky singing the bass-baritone part with good dark colouring and fine resonance.

Towards the end, that duet recalls Ortrud and Telramund in Lohengrin and leaves a slight feeling of an open-ended finale: there wanted really some suitable ‘encore’ piece. The ECO play well and the voices are finely caught and balanced in the recording. -- Gramophone [6/1998]