Prima Voce: Alexander Kipnis [Import]

Alexander Borodin (Composer), Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomizhsky (Composer), Modest Mussorgsky (Composer), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Nicolai Berezowsky (Conductor), Anna Leskaya (Performer), Ilya Tamarin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Anna Leskaya, Ilya Tamarin
• Conductor: Nicolai Berezowsky
• Composer: Alexander Borodin, Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomizhsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (July 8, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Nimbus Records
• ASIN: B00004YSJF
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,213 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Rusalka, opera: Miller's Aria - Alexander Dargomīzhsky

2. Eugene Onegin, opera, Op. 24: Prince Gremin's Aria - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

3. Prince Igor, opera (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov & Glazunov): Prince Galitsky's Aria. I hate a dreary life - Alexander Borodin

4. Sadko, opera in 3 (or 5) acts: Song of the Viking Guest - Alexander Borodin / Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

5. Mephistopheles' Song of the Flea, for voice & piano or orchestra, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov

6. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): Introduction & Opening Chorus

7. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): Coronation Scene

8. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): Varlaam's song - Once upon a time...Come now comrades, fill up your glass

9. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): I have attained the highest power

10. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): Clock scene "Give me air, I suffocate"

11. Boris Godunov, opera (Rimsky-Korsakov edition): Farewell & Death of Boris

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great bass caught just a little late, February 12, 2011

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Prima Voce: Alexander Kipnis (Audio CD)

This collection of all-Russian arias finds the celebrated Ukrainian bass just past his prime in his mid-fifties, by which time the voice has begun to loosen a little and occasionally sound a little rough as he had, after all, already been singing an astonishing variety of heavy roles for thirty years. All the electrical recordings here were made between 1945 and 1946 which, despite the inevitable distortion in the crowd scenes from "Boris Godunov", permits greater clarity than we hear in the many acoustic recordings he made earlier but in truth, despite their sonic limitations, the latter display his voice to greater advantage than these late recordings.

It was always a big, black bass of great resonance and with especially fruity low notes but I confess that I am bothered by the occasional unsteadiness which obtrudes despite the splendour of his instrument. I have long been told by people whose opinions I respect that he was the greatest dramatic bass of his era but have always found that I have somewhat resisted that judgment and nothing here causes me to change my opinion. Sometimes when he tries to sing softly the voice tends to falter - as, for example, at the close of Prince Gremin's beautiful aria, "Lyubvi fse vozrastī pokornī" on the penultimate "schastye". It is still a very imposing and characterful voice but I prefer the dependability of his coeval basses with whom he is often compared: Pinza, Reizen and Pasero.

Nonetheless, he is clearly a great actor and a formidable musician. Despite his versatility, the bulk of this disc is devoted not only just to Russian opera as his forte but specifically to his most famous role as Boris. This is a really striking assumption and as a bonus we get his Varlaam. The recording itself is constricted and some of the singing and playing a bit scrappy, but the majesty of his Tsar Boris emerges unscathed and the supporting singers are impressive, especially the silky-voiced Shuisky, Ilya Tamarin. He is not as extrovert as Chaliapin or Christoff, nor as smooth as Reizen, but represents a middle way between the two - perhaps interpretatively closest to George London. He commands a remarkable tonal and dynamic range and wholly inhabits the role. He is also, to my ears, both a great deal steadier and even more refulgent of tone in these extended "Boris" excerpts compared with the four earlier arias from other Russian operas; both the clock and death scenes are riveting when his snarling and declaiming compete with the applied effects of the best exponents of the role.

He brings the same variety to the comic arias but to totally different effect, of course, pulling out all the stops in "The Song of the Flea" complete with manic cackling and an infectious inventiveness.

A compelling disc which should appeal to all lovers of great bass voices, especially those in Russian opera.