Alexander DARGOMYZHSKY (1813-1869)
The Secret Garden
Anastasia Prokofieva (soprano)
Sergey Rybin (piano)
rec. 16 June 2019, Henry Wood Hall, London
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
STONE RECORDS 5060192780987 [62:02]
Alexander Dargomyzhsky is little known today but historically he was an important bridge between the pioneering Glinka and “The Mighty Handful”, primarily for his operas, of which The Stone Guest (Pushkin’s version of the Don Giovanni story) is the best known. Like Glinka he spent a lot of time in Western Europe and was influenced by French composers like Meyerbeer and Berlioz (he met both of them) and also inspired by French poetry (Hugo, whom he also met). Back in Russia Pushkin was the great inspiration – as he of course was to most other Russian composers during the 19th century. He was a follower to Glinka in striving for a national Russian musical language, but of that little is discernible in the songs on the present CD. Here his model is if anything the Central European parlour song, melodious and rather simple, highly agreeable and middle-of-the-road. The internationalism is further underlined by his choice of poems. The majority is Russian but there are also texts in Italian and French. Moreover we can hear authentic Spanish rhythms and there are several references to Spain also in the texts. One of the finest songs is the setting of Metastasio's Vanne, o rosa fortunata (tr. 11), and the two Victor Hugo poems Ô ma charmante (tr. 15) and Dieu qui sourit (tr. 18) are also very attractive. Of the Russian poets Pushkin dominates with seven poems, of which the very last I loved you (tr. 26) is particularly beautiful. But in general the songs are charming and easy to like. They may not be on the level of Tchaikovsky’s or Rachmaninov’s best efforts but Dargomyzhsky has a niche of his own that is well worth exploring. Sergey Rybin’s extensive liner notes are also utterly valuable to get a full picture of the composer’s background and development.
The hang up is, unfortunately, some of the singing. Anastasia Prokofieva has obviously a busy international career and has several previous solo recitals to her credit. My colleague Ian Lace recently extolled a disc with songs by Reynaldo Hahn (also on Stone Records) recorded a couple of years ago, and I agree that basically she has a beautiful voice and her pianissimo singing is ravishing (listen to the end of I loved you (tr. 26)), but the tone often becomes hard and shrill in the upper register and at forte her vibrato can be disturbingly wide. On the credit side I am full of admiration for her care over nuances. My advice to prospective buyers is to sample before buying. As for Sergey Rybin’s accompaniments I have only the highest praise.
Bottom line: Agreeable songs well worth investigating but the singing may not be to everybody’s liking.
Göran Forsling
Contents
1. Au bal [3:37]
2. Upon the expanse of heavens [2:38]
3. Sierra Nevada is shrouded in mists … (Second version) [2:52]
4. I am in love, beautiful maiden [1:30]
5. La sincere [3:45]
6. Sixteen years [2:21]
7. Thou and You [1:35]
8. How often I listen … [1:55]
9. Jamais [2:06]
10. Night Zephyr (First version) [3:25]
11. Vanne, o rosa fortunata [3:30]
12. Foolish one, I still love him! [2:32]
13. The secret garden [2:33]
14. The fire of desire burns in my blood [1:45]
15. Ô, ma charmante [2:58]
16. I won’t tell anyone [1:40]
17. I am saddened [1:47]
18. Dieu qui sourit [1:53]
19. Don’t call her heavenly (Second version) [4:44]
20. Spanish romance [1:55]
21. The youth and the maiden [1:11]
22. You’ll soon forget me [1:42]
23. Don’t ask [2:30]
24. Enchant me, enchant! [1:37]
25. We parted proudly [1:44]
26. I loved you [2:14]
