Rimsky Korsakov Songs

This disc brings together a selection of songs by the five members of the Mighty Handful, and serves as a useful and economical introduction to their Read more The Miserly Knight, Alexander Serov’s Judith (both on Harmonia Mundi), and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery (BMG). He also appears in recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night and Shostakovich’s unfinished opera The Gamblers (both on Capriccio), as well as a recording of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis conducted by Antal Doráti (BIS). He has performed with major opera companies throughout the world. I have not been able to discover the reason for his name change, but it appears that at a certain point he emigrated to the U.S. You would learn little of this history from the Naxos notes.

Elena Kelessidi is one of opera’s most touching and fiery artists and the most international Greek soprano of today. Here she makes her recital debut with this heartfelt programme of songs from a country whose language is natural to her.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve, based on a short story by Gogol, centres on the love of the blacksmith Vakula for the rich farmer’s daughter Oksana, who mockingly requires him to obtain for her the Tsarina’s shoes in order to win her hand in marriage. However, evil spirits are on the rampage imperilling their love – a witch on her broomstick gathers the stars and the devil steals the moon. Rimsky-Korsakov blends Christian and pagan elements, Ukrainian folk songs and carols, and atmospheric orchestral interludes in this vivacious and fantastical village romance. This is the disc version of the audiovisual release on 2.110738 and NBD0154V: ‘Sebastian Weigle leads the excellent Frankfurt orchestra and chorus in a spellbinding account of Rimsky-Korsakov’s score’, wrote MusicWeb International. It also won the German Record Critics Award for Quarterly Critics Choice and was a Musicweb International ‘Recommended’ release.

This substantial 25CD set offers a fascinating journey through one century of Russian Chamber Music. All Russian composers were active in this genre and often composed their most profound, personal music for it.

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was born on March 20, 1915 (Julian: March 7) in Zhitomir in present-day Ukraine. His father Teofil (Theophilus) came from a German commercial family. The famous Russian piano teacher Heinrich Neuhaus (of German origin) recognized his huge talent and enrol led him in his piano master cl ass at the Moscow Conservatory in 1 937. Profil Edition Gunter Hanssl er is progressively releasing all the recordings that the great Soviet virtuoso made between 1945 and 1963. Most of them were largely unknown in the West during the Cold War, as Richter could only perform til I 1960 behind the ""Iron Curtain"", that is to say, in the Soviet Union and the sate I lite states of Eastern Europe.