{"product_id":"in-this-moonlit-night","title":"In This Moonlit Night","description":"\u003cb\u003eFascinating and the singing and playing throughout is riveting.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Dmitri Hvorostovsky has with roughly ten-year-intervals recorded Mussorgsky’s unfinished song-cycle  \u003ci\u003eSongs and Dances of Death\u003c\/i\u003e. In January 1993 he set it down with the Kirov Orchestra under Gergiev in the Shostakovich orchestration, in August 2004 he sang the same version with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Temirkanov in Albert Hall at a Proms concert. This was coupled with Rachmaninov’s  \u003ci\u003eSymphonic Dances\u003c\/i\u003e while the earlier version had a number of Russian opera arias. On the present disc he has returned to Mussorgsky’s original with piano accompaniment. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Hvorostovsky has retained his magnificent dark-tinted baritone in wonderful shape and it is a pleasure to listen to him more than twenty years after his sensational victory at the Cardiff “Singer of the World”-competition in 1989. It is possible that the tone has darkened slightly but there are no signs of wear so far. It could also be argued that his interpretations are even deeper than before but again this is marginal - he was a deep-probing singer also in his relative youth. The  \u003ci\u003eLullaby\u003c\/i\u003e is masterly, the  \u003ci\u003eSerenade\u003c\/i\u003e has all those important nuances that make you listen with extra closeness, the  \u003ci\u003eTrepak\u003c\/i\u003e is invested with violent frenzy and  \u003ci\u003eThe Field Marshal\u003c\/i\u003e crowns the cycle impressively, not least thanks to his superb articulation. His regular accompanist is a worthy partner - the ‘accompaniment’ is just as important as the singing and Ivari Ilja finds so many colours that one doesn’t miss the orchestra. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  This song-cycle is very often the centre-piece of any recital where it is performed, but on this disc the surroundings are almost equals. Tchaikovsky’s  \u003ci\u003eSix Songs Op. 73\u003c\/i\u003e belong among his last compositions, only followed by his  \u003ci\u003ePathétique\u003c\/i\u003e symphony and his third piano concerto. They are mature works, not too frequently heard, I’m afraid, but they are masterpieces and though they are not strictly speaking a song-cycle there is a unity about them that is very telling. The texts by Daniel Rathaus (or Ratgauz) had all been written the year before Tchaikovsky set them. They are nature poems in, mostly, dark colours and melancholy moods. Whether there is a premonition of death here is another matter. Rathaus lived until 1937 and was only 24 when he wrote them, but the overriding atmosphere in the music has similarities to the  \u003ci\u003ePathétique\u003c\/i\u003e which, according to some opinions, Tchaikovsky wrote anticipating his own imminent death. The songs are not all gloomy on the surface - the fourth song,  \u003ci\u003eThe sun has set\u003c\/i\u003e, breathes optimism in the final lines:  \u003ci\u003eI am madly happy, oh, my beautiful friend \/ Unendingly happy in this night with you!\u003c\/i\u003e but the music says something else. The same goes for the passionate  \u003ci\u003eIn the midst of gloomy days\u003c\/i\u003e, where the poet exclaims:  \u003ci\u003eAnd again my desire to live glows with passion \/ To breathe as one with you, to love you!\u003c\/i\u003e The final song  \u003ci\u003eAgain, as before\u003c\/i\u003e is an anguished farewell:  \u003ci\u003eMy friend, please, pray to God for me, \/ Since I am already praying for you.\u003c\/i\u003e It is soft and inward and Hvorostovsky sings it with immense beauty. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Sergei Taneyev is probably the least known of the three composers represented on this disc but his music is not infrequently heard today. He studied composition with Tchaikovsky and left a quite substantial oeuvre including four symphonies, lots of chamber music - there are eleven string quartets for a start. He regarded his opera  \u003ci\u003eOresteia\u003c\/i\u003e as his masterpiece - it is being performed at Bard Summerscape this year thanks to the enlightened Leon Botstein amd the Bard grandees (Ed.). There are more than sixty songs. The six songs recorded here are charming with a  \u003ci\u003eMinuet\u003c\/i\u003e that is rather Haydnesque, a  \u003ci\u003eNot the wind from on high\u003c\/i\u003e with a lovely melody in ¾ time, a thrilling  \u003ci\u003eWinter path\u003c\/i\u003e with a virtuoso accompaniment, the strange  \u003ci\u003eStalactites\u003c\/i\u003e with a very special accompaniment where one hears the water drops falling. A remarkable composition! As an encore we hear the powerful and dramatic  \u003ci\u003eAnxiously beats the heart\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  After Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky these songs may seem lightweight but they are certainly fascinating and the singing and playing throughout is riveting. A disc not only for lovers of Russian music. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  -- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ondine","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49607069237528,"sku":"761195121627","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2109004.jpg?v=1747166721","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/in-this-moonlit-night","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}