Liss

“I don’t want to betray that constantly sounding tone in me, through which I hear the world around,” acknowledged Sergei Rachmaninov. This tone stimulated by the intonations of folk melodies and bell ringing, and the imagery of the Russian landscape, permeates his Second Symphony. It became a landmark work for the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, whose performances in the leading concert venues of Europe and Asia were widely admired.

Soprano Olga Peretyatko is in demand for opera roles requiring a voice that’s endlessly flexible and light on its feet. Those are mainly Italian, but there are plenty of them in her native Russian repertoire, too. The all-Russian programme here spans just over a century, from Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila to ’s Moscow, Cheryomushki. Her arias from these are impeccably done, but while there are no downright showstoppers, it’s during the tracks in between that she shines, supported solidly by the Ural Philharmonic under Dmitry Liss. The sinuous lines of the Hymn to the Sun from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Golden Cockerel are cleanly yet sensuously done, with a whiff of spice and incense about them, and the aria for ’s The Nightingale chirrups and cajoles. Volkhova’s Lullaby from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko has both poise and weight, and her Rachmaninov songs combine a gleaming timbre with an idiomatic melancholy.

Soprano Olga Peretyatko is in demand for opera roles requiring a voice that’s endlessly flexible and light on its feet. Those are mainly Italian, but there are plenty of them in her native Russian repertoire, too. The all-Russian programme here spans just over a century, from Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila to ’s Moscow, Cheryomushki. Her arias from these are impeccably done, but while there are no downright showstoppers, it’s during the tracks in between that she shines, supported solidly by the Ural Philharmonic under Dmitry Liss. The sinuous lines of the Hymn to the Sun from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Golden Cockerel are cleanly yet sensuously done, with a whiff of spice and incense about them, and the aria for ’s The Nightingale chirrups and cajoles. Volkhova’s Lullaby from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko has both poise and weight, and her Rachmaninov songs combine a gleaming timbre with an idiomatic melancholy.