Olga Pashchenk

The dignified bearing and quiet wisdom of Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881–1950) gained him the sobriquet of ‘the conscience of Russian music’ – and those qualities are reflected in the unemphatic strength of his music. His orchestral, chamber and instrumental works are regaining the currency they once enjoyed, but his large corpus of songs, many of them understated masterpieces, has yet to attract systematic attention – a situation this series hopes to remedy. The pairing here of his late Violin Sonata with his last two song-cycles for soprano and piano mirrors the Moscow concert in 1947 when all three were given their first performances.

The baritone Georg Nigl is fascinated by ballads, which unfold in him "dream images". Schubert's long and little-known lied Viola , based on a poem by Franz von Schober, or the great ballads based on texts by Goethe "opened up a world that has always accompanied me, that of the storyteller (…) stories of frightening beauty, with as many colours as possible…". The magnificent pianos on this recording - a Christoph Kern fortepiano after Conrad Graf (Vienna, 1826) and a Steinway & Sons concert grand piano (New York, 1875) - beautifully played by Olga Pashchenko, with whom Georg now forms an intimate and inspired duo, allow us to hear "unknown sounds and sometimes unheard-of colours"…

The album is dedicated to the music genre "Ragtime", a genre particularly pronounced at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Ragtime is characterized by a syncopated, i.e., "dragging" rhythm, which is why it got its name.

This album showcases a stellar line-up of artists–Clarinet Meets Guitar (Silviu Ciulei and Jeff Brooks), Rene Izquierdo, Xavier Jara, Kithara Duo (Olga Amelkina-Vera and Fernand Vera), Owen Moriarty, Matt Palmer, and Weimar Guitar Quartet (Stephanie Jones, Karmen Stendler, Hanna Link, Jakob Schmidt)—performing select works by composer Olga Amelkina-Vera.

Modest Mussorgsky's opera in prologue and four acts is performed by the Kirov Opera with performances from Olga Borodina, Alexei Steblianko and Sergei Leiferkust. Boris Godunov has obtained the throne of Russia by murdering the rightful heir Dmitry. An old monk, Pimen, witnessed this, and convinces his apprentice Grigory to avenge Dmitry's death. In the following years Grigory poses as Dmitry, raising an army against Boris, who is now convinced that he is being punished for the murder.

Valery Gergiev directs the Kirov Opera and Ballet in this magnificent 1998 production of Borodin’s "Prince Igor", presented in a new Mariinsky Theatre performing edition and featuring Mikhail Fokine’s original choreography in the famous Polovtsian Dances. Its four acts tell of the struggle between the Russians and Polovtsian nomads, of Prince Igor’s capture and escape from his noble opponent, Khan Konchak, and of love between Igor’s son, Vladimir, and Konchak’s daughter, Konchakovna.

Olga Borodina sings the role of Dalila here too; her tone in the famous aria Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix is quite ravishing, and she is matched by an heroic performance from Plácido Domingo as Samson. James Levine has an expert grasp of the drama in this 1998 Elijah Moshinsky production from the Metropolitan Opera. There's also some luxury casting in the form of Sergei Leiferkus as Le Grand Prêtre de Dagon and René Pape as Le Vieillard Hébreu. (James Longstaffe)

Olga Reiser is a Russian born flautist from Wiesbaden / Germany. In addition to classical music, Olga Reiser also inspires her audience with modern playing techniques such as beatbox flute, multiphonics and looping.

Pianist with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) since 1999, Olga Kopylova was born in Uzbekistan and studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Her solo album Estrela da Manhã (2006) features works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Medtner and Scriabin. As a soloist, she has performed with the OSESP, the Campinas Symphony Orchestra and the Curitiba Chamber Orchestra, among others. She performs chamber music at the OSESP’s series of chamber concerts and with her own ensembles, such as the Sexteto São Paulo and Duo Virtuose. She also teaches at the Osesp Music Academy.