CD 1
At the gates of the holy cloister [3:04]
Nothing shall I say to you [1:49]
Again you are bestirred, my heart [2:09]
April! A festive day in the spring [2:04]
Dusk was falling [2:39]
Song of the disenchanted [2:59]
The flower died [3:19]
Do you remember the evening? [2:31]
O, no, I beg you, do not leave Op. 4,
no. 1 (1890-93) [1:45]
Morning Op. 4, no. 2 (1890-93) [1:49]
In the silence of the secret night Op.
4, no. 3 (1890-93) [2:43]
Sing not, O lovely one Op. 4, no. 4
(1890-93) [4:20]
Oh, my field Op. 4, no. 5 (1890-93)
[4:03]
It wasn't long ago, my friend Op. 4,
no. 6 (1890-93) [1:49]
Water Lily Op. 8, no 1 (1893) [1:17]
My child, your beauty is that of a flower
op 8, no. 2 (1893) [1:39]
Thoughts, reflection Op. 8, no. 3 (1893)
[3:01]
I fell in love, to my sorrow Op. 8,
no. 4 (1893) [2:19]
A dream Op. 8, no. 5 (1893) [1:22]
Prayer Op. 8, no. 6 (1893) [3:14]
I await you Op. 14, no 1 (1896) [1:46]
Small island Op. 14, no. 2 (1896)
[2:11]
How fleeting is delight in love Op.
14, no. 3 (1896) [1:32]
I was with her Op. 14, no. 4 (1896)
[1:16]
Summer Nights Op. 14, no. 5 (1896)
[1:36]
You are so loved by all Op. 14, no.
6 (1896) [2:05]
Do not believe me, friend Op. 14, no.
7 (1896) [1:35]
Oh, do not grieve Op. 14, no. 8 (1896)
[2:56]
She is as beautiful as midday Op. 14,
no. 9 (1896) [2:35]
In my soul Op. 14, no. 10 (1896) [2:34]
Spring torrents Op. 14, no. 11(1896)
[2:10]
It is time Op. 14, no. 12 (1896)
[1:33]
CD 2
Were you hiccoughing, Natasha? [1:33]
Night [3:10]
Fate Op. 21, no. 1 (1902) [7:09]
By a fresh grave Op. 21, no. 2 (1902)
[1:47]
Twilight Op. 21, no. 3 (1902) [2:04]
They replied Op.21 no.4 (1902)
[1:45]
Lilacs Op. 21, no. 5 (1902) [1:59]
Fragment from A. Musset Op. 21, no.
6 (1902) [1:53]
How peaceful Op. 21, no. 7 (1902) [2:07]
On the death of a siskin Op. 21, no.
8 (1902) [2:29]
Melody Op. 21, no. 9 (1902) [3:00]
Before the icon Op. 21, no. 10 (1902)
[3:20]
I am not a prophet Op. 21, no. 11 (1902)
[1:29]
How pained I am Op. 21, no. 12 (1902)
[1:45]
There are many sounds Op. 26. no 1 (1906)
[2:28]
All was taken from me Op. 26, no. 2(1906)
[0:56]
We shall rest Op. 26, no. 3 (1906)
[2:13]
Two farewells Op. 26, no. 4 (1906)
[4:27]
Let us leave, my sweet Op. 26, no. 5
(1906) [2:18]
Christ is risen Op.26 no.6 (1906)
[2:46]
To my children Op. 26, no. 7 (1906)
[3:28]
I beg for mercy Op. 26, no. 8 (1906)
[1:12]
I am alone again Op. 26, no. 9 (1906)
[1:46]
At my window Op. 26, no. 10 (1906) [2:54]
The fountain Op.26 no.11 (1906) [1:22]
Night is sorrowful Op. 26, no. 12 (1906)
[2:20]
Yesterday we met Op. 26, no. 13 (1906)
[2:54]
The Ring Op. 26, no. 14 (1906)
[2:32]
All passes Op. 26, no. 15 (1906)
[2:32]
CD 3
Letter to K.S. Stanislavsky [3:16]
The muse Op. 34, no. 1 (1912) [4:10]
In the soul of each of us Op. 34, no.
2 (1912) [2:15]
The storm Op. 34, no. 3 (1912) [3:36]
A passing breeze Op. 34, no. 4 (1912)
[3:36]
Arion Op.34 no.5 (1912) [2:48]
The raising of lazarus Op. 34, no. 6
(1912) [2:14]
It cannot be Op. 34, no. 7 (1912) [1:35]
Music Op. 34, no. 8 (1912) [2:23]
You knew hin Op. 34, no. 9 (1912)
[2:13]
I remember this day Op. 34, no. 10 (1912)
[1:33]
The herald Op. 34, no. 11 (1912)
[2:52]
What is happiness Op. 34, no. 12 (1912)
[2:12]
Dissonance Op. 34, no. 13 (1912)
[6:00]
Vocalise Op. 34, no. 14 (1912)
[6:04]
From the gospel of St. John [1:22]
At the night in my garden Op. 38, no.
1 (1916) [1:48]
To her Op. 38, no. 2 (1916) [2:50]
Daisies Op. 38, no. 3 (1916) [2:15]
The pied piper Op. 38, no. 4 (1916)
[2:30]
Sleep Op. 38, no. 5 (1916) [3:20]
'Au "Op. 38, no. 6 (1916) [2:21]
A prayer [2:33]
All glory to God [1:58]
The songs of Rachmaninov,
85 in toto, span a period of
27 years. The earliest were composed
in 1890 when he was seventeen, the last
ones in 1917. This was the year when
he left Russia and settled in the USA.
Apparently his song-writing was so intimately
associated with his native land and
culture that he felt unable to produce
anything in his new country, so different
was it in lifestyle, geography and attitudes.
A very Russian melancholy
permeates a majority of his songs. Some
would still maintain that it is more
sentimentality than deep melancholy
and I can sometimes feel that certain
songs are close to being syrupy. That
said, I also sense honest feelings and
can feel affinity with his melancholy,
coming from the same ‘belt of gloom’
that covers the northernmost part of
Europe and includes, besides Russia,
also Finland, Sweden and Norway. There
is also a fair share of lively and/or
dramatic songs.
The piano part is almost
constantly a source of delight, Rachmaninov
seldom refrained from spectacular piano
writing even when he wrote his songs.
Thus it is a special treat to have as
accompanist the superb Rachmaninov specialist
Howard Shelley throughout the three
well-filled discs. He never misses an
opportunity to highlight felicities
in the piano part and neither does he
scout over the occasional bombast. In
fact there are moments where Shelley’s
piano masks the singers. But this is
really neither his nor the singers’
fault. Whether it is the generous acoustics
of St. Michael’s Church or the unfortunate
positioning of the microphones I can’t
tell. Being an original Chandos production,
licensed to Brilliant Classics, the
team of Brian Couzens and Mike George
should indeed be reliable – and they
certainly are to a great extent.
The songs are presented
in strictly chronological order, which
is excellent for a reference issue like
this one. It also makes the earliest
songs emerge as talented but slightly
immature. There is a marked difference
when we reach the songs with opus numbers.
Listening through the whole lot in three
or four sittings was highly interesting.
Despite having a fairly solid acquaintance
with Rachmaninov’s songs, this traversal
left me with many new impressions. The
last two preceding Op. 4, which were
his first published songs, (CD 1 tr.
7 and 8) were nice acquaintances; the
expressive Op 8 No. 3 Thoughts, reflections
(CD 1 tr. 17) was another. I also
appreciated the restrained In my
soul (CD 1tr 30) and there were
a number of others that were new to
me.
The choice of singers
and the allocation of songs to them
is ingenious. Rachmaninov wrote many
of his songs for specific singers and
Chandos selected singers of the same
category for this enterprise. Thus Sergei
Leiferkus, one of the most expressive
Russian-speaking singers of the present
generation, took on songs that were
written for Chaliapin, including the
grossly impressive Fate (CD 2
tr. 3), which is conceived around the
fate motif of Beethoven’s Symphony No.
5. The outstanding tenor Leonid Sobinov’s
repertoire was allotted to Alexandre
Naoumenko and Joan Rodgers sang the
songs that Rachmaninov composed with
the great Antonina Nezhdanova in mind.
This works fairly well but it has to
be said that none of the present singers
are quite in the class of the original
singers.
The one who comes closest
to his model is Sergei Leiferkus. I
can’t honestly say that he is quite
in the Chaliapin league but there have
been few if any singers during the last
twenty years or so that have been so
expressive and idiomatic in this field.
His voice is not very ingratiating,
but neither was Chaliapin’s, and despite
a sometimes throaty delivery and less
than appealing vibrato his readings
are engrossing. The tenor Alexandre
Naoumenko is less successful. He is
quite good when singing softly – and
Rachmaninov often requires him to do
so – but as soon as he has to sing something
above mezza-forte he becomes awkward
and his forte notes are plainly embarrassing.
The ladies are more even. Maria Popescu
sings with impressive dramatic conviction
and is a pillar of strength whenever
she appears. Joan Rodgers has made Russian
repertoire a speciality of hers and
she is interpretatively superb all through
the programme but her tone is not always
ingratiating and she has a fast flicker
that is annoying in her legato singing.
Vocalise, the most well known
song of them all, composed for Nezhdanova,
is well enough sung but the vibrato
disrupts the legato line, so essential
in this song. One feels a bit short-changed,
expecting something more violin-like
and steady.
These are however marginal
observations. Readers interested in
the complete Rachmanoniv songs can safely
invest in this issue, knowing that a
lot of the songs are expertly and idiomatically
performed. However, there was a series
of Rachmaninov songs issued by Decca
some thirty years ago with Elisabeth
Söderström – who had Russian
as a second language through her mother.
This had the unrivalled Vladimir Ashkenazy
at the piano. That Decca box remains
the touchstone but the present set,
individually not the last word in Rachmaninov
singing perhaps but absolutely complete,
is no doubt an enticing bait, especially
considering the super-budget price.
Göran Forsling
see also
review by Jonathan Woolf BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH May 2007
for
details
Joan Rodgers (soprano), Maria Popescu
(mezzo), Alexandre Naoumenko (tenor),
Sergei Leiferkus (bass) 
