Tchaikovsky Romances
If Tchaikovsky’s songs are not well enough known, Stotijn could change all that
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Onyx
Magazine Review Date: 3/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 63
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: ONYX4034
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 3, At the ball (wds. Tolstoy) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 6, None but the lonely heart (wds. Mey, after Goethe) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 2, As o'er the burning ashes (wds. Tyutchev) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| My genius, my angel, my friend |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 1, Cradle song (wds. Maykov) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 1, Reconciliation (wds. Shcherbina) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 4, The sun has set |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 6, The fearful minute (wds. cpsr) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (12) Songs, Movement: No. 12, The mild stars shone for us (wds. Pleshcheyev) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (7) Songs, Movement: No. 1, If only I had known (wds. Tolstoy) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: The fires in the rooms were already out |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 2, Not a word, o my friend (wds. Pleshcheyev, after Hartmann) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 5, Why? (wds. Mey, after Heine) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (7) Songs, Movement: No. 7, Was I not a little blade of grass? (wds. |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (12) Songs, Movement: No. 7, Gypsy's song (wds. Polonsky) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 1, Do not believe, my friend (wds. Tolstoy) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 2, It was in the early Spring (wds. Tolstoy) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (16) Children's Songs, Movement: The cuckoo (wds. after Gellert) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (7) Songs, Movement: No. 6, Does the day reign? (wds. Apukhtin) |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
| (6) Songs, Movement: No. 6, Again, as before, alone |
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Christianne Stotijn, Mezzo soprano Julius Drake, Piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer |
Author: po'connor
As the penultimate track on this very beautiful recital, Christianne Stotijn and Julius Drake perform “Can it be day?”, the song that was once known as “Pour toi”. This was recorded long ago by Grace Moore with a sumptuous Hollywood orchestration, and its surge of ecstatic, not to say erotic, melody comes as a welcome reminder that the Tchaikovsky of Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake could occasionally make himself felt in his songs. For the most part these are angst-ridden stories of death and lost love. The two best-known songs open proceedings: “At the Ball”, with its reminiscence of unrequited passion to the lilt of a sad waltz, and then “None but the lonely heart”. Everyone conceivable from Rosa Ponselle to Frank Sinatra has recorded this, but Stotijn loses nothing in comparison with ghosts from the past. Her voice is a full-blooded mezzo but steady and true, without a hint of that vibrato that can often disturb the line in Slavonic singers (Stotijn is from the Netherlands).
The emotional climax of the selection comes with “The Bride’s Lament”. This outpouring of grief (sometimes called “Was I not a blade of grass”) can seem over melodramatic but Stotijn and Drake find exactly the right mood. The piano parts are superbly done: in every sense these songs are duets. There are a couple of other light moments – “Cuckoo”, one of 16 children’s songs composed in the 1880s (this used to be a favourite of Elisabeth Söderström), and a “Gypsy Song” from around the same time. Tchaikovsky’s songs are not nearly well enough known and this superb recital should encourage more interest in them. A second volume, please, and soon! Highly recommended.
Tchaikovsky Romances
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