Customer Reviews

Shostakovich: Complete Songs, Vol. 5, Famous Song Cycles

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These five volumes of Shostakovich's Complete Songs are simply astonishing. If admirers have with good reason found the private voice of the composer in his string quartets, there's another, perhaps more intimate voice to be found in his songs. Let this review stand for the entire collection - each disc yields generous returns. An entirely Russian production recorded in Russia, this is estimable treasure. If you love Shostakovich's music, the breadth of revelation found throughout these discs is overwhelming. Here is Shostakovich the man, genius, survivor, sufferer - but never victim. The works themselves are no less than a kind of eternal definition of art, an all-encompassing humanity borne by one man to our lasting benefit. The singing performances are uniformly excellent, as are the production values on every level, with fine sonics. Among the Russian singers who contribute, soprano Victoria Evtodieva, mezzo Liudmila Shkirtil, and the mighty bass Fyodor Kuznetsov stand out. Most of the songs are set for voice and piano. The cycles and a number of other songs use orchestration of varying details. Pianist Yuri Serov, besides distinguished playing, provides insightful commentary with each disc, ideal remarks full of detail - the title of this review is taken from his notes on 'The Anti-Formalist Raree Show', which he hails as '...a striking document of that bygone era, the evidence of a great witness.' What more fitting could be said of these amazing musical works and their composer? Full translation of every song text is included in each of the discs.