Joan Rodgers & Malcolm Martineau - Pushkin Romances (2009)
Artist: Joan Rodgers & Malcolm Martineau with Sergey Rybin
Title: Pushkin Romances
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Hyperion
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, booklet)
Total Time: 73:09 min
Total Size: 229 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Pushkin Romances
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Hyperion
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, booklet)
Total Time: 73:09 min
Total Size: 229 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
01. Declaration (Priznaniye), song for voice & piano, G. x280
02. Adele (Adel'), song for voice & piano, G. x316
03. Sing not, thou beauty, in my presence (Ne poy, krasavitsa), song for voice & piano, G. x92
04. I recall that wonderful moment (Ya pomnyu chudnoye mgnoven'ye), song for voice & piano, G. x201
05. I Am Here, Inezilla (Ya zdes', Inezil'ya: Spanish Romance), song for voice & piano, G. x161
06. Elegy: The Clouds Begin to Scatter, song for voice & piano, Op. 42/3
07. Do not sing to me, O lovely one (Ne poy, krasavitsa), song for voice & piano, Op. 51/2
08. What is My Name to Thee? (Chto v imeni tebe moyem?), song for voice & piano, Op. 4/1
09. On the Hills of Georgia (Na kholmakh Gruzii), song for voice and piano, Op. 3/4
10. My voice for thee is sweet and languid (Moy golos dyla tebya i laskoviy), song for voice & piano, Op. 7/1
11. The Echo (Ekho), song for voice & piano (To the poet No. 1), Op. 45/1
12. Thou and You (Ti i vi), song for voice & piano, Op. 27/3
13. The Muse (Musa), song for voice & piano, Op. 29/1
14. A Rose (Roza), song for voice & piano, Op. 29/6
15. When Roses Fade (Lish' rozi uvyadayut), song for voice & piano, Op.36/3
16. The Waltz ('Mogu l' zabit'eto sladkoye mgnoven'ye'), song for voice & piano, Op. 32/5
17. Pevec ('Vernehmet ihr'), song for voice & piano, Op. 36/7
18. Noch (Night), romance for voice & piano (after Romance, Op. 44/1)
19. Zemfira's Song (Pesn' Zemfiri ), for voice & piano
20. The Nightingale, song for voice & piano, Op. 60/4
21. Night (Noch'), fantasy for voice & piano
22. The Magpie (Strekotun'ya beloboka), 'musical jest' (song) for voice & piano
23. To his friends (K druz'yam), for voice & piano
24. Yunosha i deva (The Girl and the Youth), for voice & piano
25. Romances (4) on Poems by Pushkin, songs for voice and piano, Op. 46 (arr for harp & strings as Op 46a): 2. Yunoshu, gorku ridaya (A girl, sobbing bitterly)
26. The Muse, song for voice & piano, Op. 34/1
27. Georgian Song ('Do not Sing, My Beauty'), for voice & piano, Op. 4/4
28. The Statue of Czarskoye-Selo, for voice & piano, Op. 57/17
29. You and Thou, Op. 57/11
30. Le desir (My Desire), song, Op. 57/25
31. To the Fountain of the Bakhchisarai, for voice & piano
British soprano Joan Rodgers has a broad repertoire ranging from Handel and Mozart to Britten, but she has made something of a specialty of Romantic and post-Romantic Russian art song and has recorded discs of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, as well as a collection by a variety of Russian composers. Here she gathers a diverse assortment of songs that are settings of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. Rodgers' voice is not large; it has a delicacy, almost fragility, that's particularly well suited to this repertoire of mostly delicate, sophisticated songs. She is utterly secure, with a gleaming tone that's consistent throughout her range, and an irreproachable technique, and these go a long way toward compensating for the lack of a warmer, more robust sound. As an interpreter, she gets right at the core of these songs and never fails to effectively put them across. Her colorful shadings conjure up an impressively wide emotional range, which is essential for a collection this diverse. Most of the songs here don't have a distinctive character that makes them immediately identifiable as Russian. The seven songs by Rimsky-Korsakov stand out for their musical variety and generous lyricism; these are high-profile pieces that deserve the attention of singers looking for material outside the standard repertoire that have substance and that show off the voice. Mussorgsky's The Magpie, which sounds rooted in Russian folk song, puts Rodgers' gift for humor on display, as well as her affinity for idiomatically Russian material. The two Rachmaninov songs are deeply felt and notable for the expansiveness of their lyrical passion, and the three brief songs by Cui are especially melodically lovely. Also memorable is the evocative To the fountain of the Bakhchisaray, by the most obscure composer on the disc, Vladimir Vlasov. Malcolm Martineau's sensitive and expressive accompaniment is a perfect match for Rodgers' singing. The sound is present and clean, with good balance. -- Stephen Eddins
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