Moussorgski: Chansons [Import]

Sergei Leiferkus (Performer), Sergey Yakovenko (Performer), Modest Mussorgsky (Composer), Semion Skigin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sergei Leiferkus, Sergey Yakovenko, Semion Skigin
• Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
• Audio CD (December 18, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony/Bmg Int'l
• ASIN: B00009963E
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,169 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Songs & Dances Of Death (Pesni Y Plyaski Smerti; 4)

2. The Nursery (Detskaya; 7)

3. Penny-Paradise (Rayok)

4. Forgotten (ZabÏTÏY)

5. The Seminarist

6. Darling Savishna (Svetik Savishna)

7. A Society Tale: The Goat (Svetskaya Skazochka: Kozyol)

8. Mephistopheles' Song Of The Flea

9. Where Art Thou, Little Star? (Gde TÏ, Zvezdochka?)

10. Happy Hour: Capriccio (VesoylÏY Chas, I & Ii)

11. The Leaves Were Sadly Rustling (List'ya Shumeli UnÏLo)

12. I Have Many Palaces And Gardens (Mnogo Yest' U Menya Teremov U Sadov)

13. Prayer (Molitva)

14. Tell Me Why, O Maiden (Otchego, Skazhi)

15. What Are Words Of Love To You? (Chto Vam Slova Lyubvi?)

16. The Wild Winds Blow (Duyut VetrÏ)

17. We Parted Coldly, But If I Could Meet Thee Again (No Yesli BÏ S Toboyu Ya Vstret

18. Dear One, Why Are Thine Eyes Sometimes So Cold? (Malyutka)

19. The Harper's Song (Pesn' Startsa)

20. King Saul (King Saul)

See all 26 tracks on this disc

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-buy, January 2, 2010

By 

PB000001 (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moussorgski: Chansons (Audio CD)

This double CD brings together two previously separate releases of Moussorgsky songs by Sergei Leiferkus. Leiferkus delivers his trademark, i.e. a seemingly effortless pairing of textual accuracy, dramatic eloquence and simple melodic beauty, on almost all of the songs here. Highlights include The Songs & Dances of Death, Mephistopheles' Song of the Flea, Where art thou, little Star, and the Harper's Song. All in all, this is a faboulous collection of many all-time favourite Moussorgski songs by one of the greatest baritones alive.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Mussorgsky..., November 3, 2010

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Moussorgski: Chansons (Audio CD)

Essential Mussorgsky...
*
Considering the archaeology of the lied: Beethoven wrote a few memorable songs along with the first enduring song-cycle; Schubert's monumental oeuvre of approximately 600 lieder stands alone in excellence; the art-songs of Schumann, Brahms, and Strauss--while superb--all somewhat run together in a vague miasma of later Romanticism.
Wolf's exquisite lieder stand apart after Schubert's, while of Modern composers only Schönberg produced a really significant body in the genre.
(To be sure almost all composers after Beethoven dabbled in lieder a bit, some even producing a few exceptional songs or song-cycles--[e.g., Butterworth's Housman songs, Hindemith's Das Marienleben, Schoeck's liederkreisen, and Fauré's mélodies].)

The Russian genealogy of art-song writing extends from Beethoven's influence on Glinka, via Balakirev, unto Mussorgsky et alii, which brings us to this extraordinary set of recordings featuring Mussorgsky's three song-cycles (The Nursery [1872]; Sunless [1874]; Songs and Dances of Death [1877]) as realized by St. Petersburg natives baritone Sergei Leiferkus with the gifted accompanist Semion Skigin.

Mussorgsky was a talented pianist and lieder accompanist who wrote songs throughout his brief career which reflect his most essential characteristics of humanistic empathy and psychological insight combined with harmonic originality and the melismatic heterophony oft found in Eastern European folk tunes. (These elements too are reflected in Mussorgsky's immortal piano-cycle Pictures at an Exhibition [1874].)
*
This bargain reissue has one grave flaw in the absence of a lyric-booklet; indeed the packaging is that cheap type of thin folding paper and plastic. The single page of notes and song titles are in French. Collection includes a total of 40 songs of Mussorgsky's complete lieder oeuvre of 58; excellent performances and sound should satisfy most enthusiasts.
*
look for Leiferkus in:

Borodin and Dargomïzhsky lieder Borodin/Dargomizhsky: Songs
Tchaikovsky Mazeppa Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa . Tchaikovsky - Mazeppa
Rachmaninov chamber operas Rachmaninov: Complete Operas
Beethoven Fidelio Fidelio
Mussorgsky Boris Godunov Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov . Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
.
Mussorgsky complete music for solo piano Mussorgsky: Piano Music
*
see too Musorgsky
*

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best one for Mussorgsky, January 23, 2012

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Banjey (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moussorgski: Chansons (Audio CD)

I highly recommend you to check how Nesterenko (Melodya) and Christoff do the same vocal cycles. They are both truly magnificent. I respect Leiferkus' talent but cannot say that he's the best here.