Also available on Blu-ray

From the innovative and gorgeous "Tutto Verdi" project comes a chance to catch all the high points! "Tutto Verdi" includes arias from 20 Verdi operas. The selections hail from the best-known and loved productions like Aida, La Traviata and Rigoletto as well as lesser-known beauties, all in HD.

Giuseppe Verdi
TUTTO VERDI - The Complete Operas
(Highlights)

excerpts from:
Oberto
Un Giorno di Regno
Nabucco
I Lombardi alla prima crociata
Ernani
I due Foscari
Giovanna d’Arco
Attila
Macbeth
Il Corsaro
Luisa Miller
Rigoletto
Il Trovatore
La Traviata
I Vespri Siciliani
Simon Boccanegra
Un Ball in Maschera
La Forza del Destino
Falstaff

with:
Anna Caterina Antonacci
Barbara Bargnesi
Silvia Dalla Benetta
Daniela Dessì
Norma Fantini
Tamar Iveri
Nino Machaidze
Susan Neves
Dimitra Theodossiou
Sylvie Valayre
Svetla Vassileva
Marcelo Alvarez
Marco Berti
Francesco Demuro
Antonio Gandia
Carlo Guelfi
Ambrogio Maestri
Francesco Meli
Leo Nucci
Luca Salsi
Roberto Scandiuzzi
Vladimir Stoyanov

Parma Teatro Regio Chorus and Orchestra

Recorded live from the Teatro Regio di Parma

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English
Running time: 94 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

ITALY • AUSTRIA

The Places

The tour starts at the great Augustinian foundation, Kloster Neustift (Novacella), at Brixen (Bressanone) in Southern Tyrol, with its rococo church interior and collection of late medieval paintings. This is followed by a visit to Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, with its famous Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) and rococo Wilten Basilica and Collegiate Church.

The Music

The music chosen for this tour of Brixen and Innsbruck is by Mozart and includes two symphonies, with other works. Symphony No. 40 is the second of the group of three final symphonies, written in Vienna in 1787, and Symphony No. 28 was written in Salzburg in 1773 or 1774. Other works included are overtures to the early opera Il rè pastore, to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart’s first operatic success in Vienna, and the overture to La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791, a few months before his death.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 58 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

 
I guess these Musical Journeys serve several purposes. A far as Naxos is concerned they recycle sound recordings for those who prefer a visual image to make a change from the wallpaper. The images are often quite stunning, whilst the music, never less than appealing, can be appropriate to the image or otherwise; a fact I touch on in this review. Other functions can be to remind the inveterate tourist of places visited, or of places to go as part of a future itinerary.
 
A word first about the Tyrol. In the days of Mozart, whose music is the backing to these scenes, it was part of the Hapsburg Empire of which the composer was a citizen. Italy was not even a nation, rather a collection of states, some with rulers with a connection with the Hapsburgs whilst others were influenced by, or later under, French control. In that generic sense Italy was a country Mozart visited in his childhood as his father hawked his genius round Europe. I detail this in my survey of The Complete Operas of Mozart. It can be considered, therefore, wholly appropriate that his music is the backing to this collection of views of the Tyrol the southern part of which became ceded to Italy in the treaties of 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War, Italy having joined in on the allies side, albeit a little late in the day.
 
Brixen lies in that ceded part of the Tyrol and contains the magnificent Neustift Monastery - the focus of the first part of this collection (Chs. 1-4). The external beauty includes the ornamental ceilings of the Cloisters, the Romanesque Bell Tower dating from the twelfth century whilst other parts are Gothic (Ch.1). The Molto allegro movement of Mozart’s 40 ^th symphony, one of a group of three composed in Vienna as he sought work, is an appropriate accompaniment. However, it is the magnificent interior of the Neustift Monastery that is the highlight of this Musical Journey where an equally appropriate accompaniment is the Molto allegro of the same symphony. The camera wanders around the magnificently painted and ornamented ceilings. These scenes are quite fantastic and overwhelmingly lovely. If one has never visited them I suspect this will stimulate thoughts of rectifying that state of affairs. Meanwhile the camera and Mozart’s music allow the observer to luxuriate in such beauty (Ch.2). The camera moves on (Ch.3 ) to show a different perspective with late medieval paintings of the life and death of St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Barbara. These include a vivid representation of the Passion of Christ. Thus vivid scenes contrast with the interior as does the Minuetto of the symphony. The final part of the visit takes in the library and its Rococo ornamentation. The fastish Allegro is less appropriate as the camera has to eke out time for the music to finish with some repetitive scenes as the camera runs somewhat out of content.
 
The second part of this Musical Journey focuses on the Austrian town of Innsbruck, capital of the Tyrol. The views of the town and its hilly setting is impressive with the river Inn running through it. It was the Hapsburg seat and was rebuilt by the formidable Empress Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century. She had a less than benign view of Mozart; even so the allegro spiritoso of Wolfgang’s earlier 28 ^th symphony provides an apt background (Ch.5). In the town of Innsbruck the photographs of Helbling House, dated 1560, which is dominated by elaborate and extensive Rococo ornaments added around 1730 were rather too fancy for my taste (Ch.6). The visit to the rooftops of Innsbruck with the copper roof of the church, turned green, is less than interesting whilst the façade of the Golden Dachl originally built by Duke Friedrich in about 1420 as his own residence is more impressive (Ch.7).
 
The remaining views of Innsbruck are less than captivating and stretch time with a visit to the Innsbruck Alpine Zoo (Ch.9) with the music now finding vitality in Mozart’s overture to his early opera seria Il re pastore composed for a visit to Salzburg by the Archduke Maximilian, youngest son of the Empress Maria Theresa. The story of love and duty, with overtones of avuncular behaviour by royalty being considered entirely appropriate for the occasion albeit the family never did Mozart any favours. However the music finds an appropriate venue among some captivating water animals.
 
The concluding visits are to Wilten Collegiate Church (Ch.10) and Wilten Basilica (Ch.11); both stretched by the timings of the overtures to the singspiel The Abduction from the Seraglio and Mozart’s final opera La Clemenza di Tito respectively. By this time I was tiring of churches and their exterior decorations and would have much preferred a closer look at the impressive mountains that surround Innsbruck.
 
The included leaflet is adequately informative whilst Mozart’s music and the playing of the Capella Istropolitana under Barry Wordsworth was a consistent delight.
 
-- Robert J Farr, MusicWeb International
 

The American composer Christian Wolff (b. 1934) is the last living representative of the New York School (Rauschenberg, Rothko, etc.). Wolff was not even an adult when he studied with Grete Sultan and John Cage. Wolff’s music was much more politically motivated than that of Feldman and Cage, which is evident on this new WERGO album by Trio Accanto. The album features first recordings made in close collaboration with Wolff in the studios of Deutschlandfunk Cologne/Germany. Wolff's great “Trio IX – Accanto” (2017) is a testament to his long-standing friendship with the musicians. Peculiarly serene and unobtrusively narrative, the piece features many reminiscences and hidden quotations from music by J. S. Bach to union songs. There are also tributes to Wolff's own “Exercises”, whose more recent numbers can be heard on the album as well. These “Exercises” sound lucid and atmospheric, yet complex. Each player has to decide for himself/herself on the course of the musical thoughts and spontaneously put them together in the group as an exercise. Collective agreement for individual positions as a musical and social task. This music by Wolff “still sings a longer modernism”, writes Seth Brodsky. “You can hear the historical horizon in it, not as some grandiose prophecy, but like an outline full of white space. The music is interested in the grace of presentness, of being-here, but it doesn’t lack desire.”

Another album presenting the output of Pawel Lukaszewski (DUX Lukaszewski Collection). The characteristic stylistic language of Lukaszewski is close to artists such as Arvo P�rt, John Tavener and Mikolaj G�recki, and at the same time it strongly refers to the pre-modern traditions of the Renaissance vocal music and Gregorian chant. "Among Polish composers younger than Penderecki and Lutoslawski, Lukaszewski has become by far the best known. Although he has composed orchestral and chamber music, his reputation is based on his sacred music. He is an ardent Roman Catholic and sets texts mostly in Latin, which, whatever it's difficulties, is for English-speaking listeners more accessible than Polish. He has accumulated an extensive discography and this latest album is listed as the fifth in a series called Musica sacra - though the earlier albums are not in fact all of sacred music." (Stephen Barber, MusicWeb)

J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was written for the Christmas season of 1734, and although it incorporates music from earlier works it belongs firmly among his timeless large-scale compositions. The development of the oratorio, which was to become a new musical form in Protestant church services at that time, was stimulated by Bach’s compositions, particularly by the unusual form of his six-part Christmas Oratorio. From its famously joyful opening ‘Jauchzet frohlocket’ to the arrival of the Wise Men from the East, this work’s enduring popularity has long proven its status as a choral ‘evergreen.’ For the conductor Ralf Otto, flexibility, diversity and transparency of sound have always been essential to his work with choirs and orchestras. The conductor’s reputation is based on his gift for interpreting different musical styles, from the Renaissance through the music of today. This recording follows the April 2018 release of Bach’s St. John Passion with the Bach Choir and Orchestra of Mainz conducted by Ralf Otto. MusicWeb International wrote: “the Bachchor Mainz is a fine ensemble: it shows great flexibility in those turbae which are performed at a high speed, and produces a surprisingly transparent sound, also thanks to the good acoustic of the Christuskirche in Mainz.”

Joan Tower creates music which is bold, colorful and communicative, her list of commissions and awards providing ample evidence of her ability to engage performers and audiences alike. Emotional intensity characterizes Stroke, which vividly conveys a stroke victim’s dramatic turmoil while also offering a vision of hope. The Violin Concerto, selected for the final round of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, is both a virtuoso showcase and a lyrical vehicle for the soloist, its conversational cadenzas representing a poignant exchange between the living and the departed. The deceptively titled Chamber Dance alternates huge blocks of sound with intimate solos and duets in an ever-evolving riot of colors.

Review:

In the Violin Concerto the ear is caught by the constantly changing colours of the soloists interaction with different orchestral players. Violinist Cho-Liang Lin is lyrical and muscular as required, and his slender tone is well balanced with the excellent Nashville Symphony. The orchestra impresses also in two more recent pieces by Tower, and bears further witness to Tower's imaginative handling of instrumental coloring.

– BBC Music Magazine

On his seventh release on Navona Records, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN, Michael J. Evans presents an epic, modern adaptation of Henry Beston’s fairytale of the same name. Over the course of four orchestral acts, Evans reframes the story as a tale of trans heroship, with Prince Florizel marrying Florian himself presenting as a boy, rather than revealing Florian as Isabella. Beautifully accessible and poignantly educational, THE ADVENTURES OF FLORIAN brings LGBT characters into the spotlight to improve their representation and educate audiences on the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the course of the tale, Florian and Florizel display true love for each other and come together as one. Evans enhances the piece’s narrative drive with dedicated instrumentation for each character. The oboe represents Isabella until her transition into Florian, at which point he is musically defined by the soprano sax. The powerful Enchanter is heard as a bass trombone, which contrasts with the english horn and shrieking clarinets which represent the Old Witch and her daughter. Finally, Prince Florizel is heard as a trumpet. Evans continues to show his compositional and thematic prowess through his use of themes for Florian and Florizel. Their respective themes are complete and can stand on their own, but when they come together they form a beautiful duet that represents their healthy, loving relationship. Accompanying the music and fairytale are more than a hundred full illustrations by Appoline Etienne, which depict the story and its joyous ending. The colorful, dreamlike imagery perfectly captures the uplifting theme, and helps make the album’s message understandable for all ages.

American Percussion Works is a rare collection of seldom heard works each with specific rules or themes as a basis for the compositions. In John Cage’s First Construction the principle is based on the figure 16. Alberto Ginastera’s work Cantata para America Magica, uses pre-Columbian texts based on the conditions of human life, with war, natural phenomena, daybreak, night and love. Lou Harrison mixes non-European forms which ‘follow the pattern of having a single melodic part accompanied (or enhanced) by rhythmic percussion’ in his Koncherto. Varese’s Ionisation also enters a new land being his first solely percussive work where ‘he finds a new grammar for the language of music.’

Both Scriabin and Langgaard believed that through their music they could pave the way for a spiritual revolution. The piano offered a perfect and very intimate medium for their highly personal harmonic and expressive vocabularies. Scriabin drew on daemonic associations in his Piano Sonata No. 9 to liberate the old tonal system, whereas Langgaard explored his youthful fascination with Catholicism in music of fanaticism and ecstasy. Langgaard’s The Flame Chambers and Scriabin’s Vers la flamme are feverish musical twins that exemplify both composers’ explosive intensity.

To make the dream come true and record the music for the album, Kaczka and Nadrzycki had to conquer thousands of kilometres and overcome numerous obstacles. The mental barrier turned out to be the hardest: if they wanted to focus strictly on the music, they had to forget about cancelled flights and restrictions, not to mention all the disturbing news regarding the global spread of SARS-Co-V 2 or the insecure artistic and professional prospects for the future in face of the lockdown and closed concert halls. But they succeeded. They managed to devote themselves to the music entirely, the result being an exquisite album that for listeners will prove to be a welcome respite from the pandemic and a space to breathe freely.

First Prize winner of the prestigious Eighth International Organ Competition Musashino-Tokyo, Amanda Mole has selected music that fully exploits every aspect of the excellent Marcussen & Son instrument at this venue. Buxtehude's remarkable Praeludium and Bruhns' chorale fantasia on the Advent tune 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland' connect with the old French traditions evoked in Alain's 'Variations,' while Reger uses the entire dynamic range of the organ in his Toccata. The programme is topped by Messiaen's expression of sheer joy in the rapturous conclusion to 'La Nativite du Seigneur.' Amanda Mole is the winner numerous awards. Since 2017, she has served as a juror for several organ competitions, and in 2016 was chosen as one of The Diapason magazine's 'Top 20 under 30.'

Robert Schuman is one of a number of 19th century artists whose creativity was dogged by mental illness. The works he wrote at the end of his life have particularly suffered from being seen soley through his prism. Madnenss in no way helps us understand his late style. A common misconception is that Schumann the composer was mad however it was Schumann the man, who was mad. Soo Park goes in depth with Schumann, finding the harmonies and sanity in his works.

Kevin Puts is one of America’s most exciting and important composers. His first opera, Silent Night, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera. It premiered in 2011 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A work profound and sweeping emotional power, it has since entered the modern operatic repertoire with remarkable speed, enjoying world-wide performances. The opera is based on Christian Carion’s screen-play for the 2005 French war film Joyeux Noël, and its fictionalized subject is the series of Christmas truces on the Western Front in 1914.

REVIEWS:

American composer Kevin Puts’ first opera, Silent Night, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera, the house where this live recording was made. The opera's subject is the Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914.

Various languages are used in the opera, German, French, English, Italian, and even Latin.

Puts and Campbell have packed the serious theme into a complex score, very colorful and modern in style, with painfully dissonant and wonderfully lyrical moments. Overall, the opera is good for an impressive musical experience, though the question is whether the visuals of the theatrical experience are missing from the audio recording. On the other hand, with just the audio there is more focus on the music, and it is, after all, quite expressive and convincingly performed in this live recording.

-- Pizzicato

As we have already heard in his orchestral works, Puts is a highly compelling and innovative orchestrator, and here he is equally compelling in the field of opera where he works within the conventions of solos, duets and choruses. They are then brought together by the British-born conductor, Courtney Lewis. It is not the type of story you can enjoy, but the opera, which takes two hours, must rank amongst the most outstanding staged in recent times. Add to this the ideally balanced recording, and it becomes self-recommending. The twin disc comes with English. This, and the slim two disc jewel case with notes on the artists, is then presented in a cardboard box.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

Gioachino Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia performed by Chor de Grand Theatre of Geneve and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne directed by Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

Many Japanese composers have shown particular affinity for the guitar, none more so than Toru Takemitsu. In Toward the Sea Takemitsu expands his unique sensibility and imaginative flair for the instrument’s colors and expressiveness to embrace the warmly elliptical sound of the alto flute. Ichiro Nodaira’s Wave Recollections evokes the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in its exploration of the guitar’s acoustic properties- the quality of mankind’s relationship with nature runs as a theme through many of the evocative Japanese song arrangements in this programme. “This is not music you’ll be able to hear often- and it’s unlikely that you’ll hear it played more beautifully.” (American Record Guide on Volume 3)

I was unaware of the existence of Chandos’s series of Introduction to ... recordings until they very generously offered every recipient of their e-newsletter the opportunity freely to download their Introduction to Vaughan Williams.

The opening performance of The Hebrides Overture (better known as Fingal’s Cave) emphasises the mystery of the music rather than the excitement of the crashing waves – Mendelssohn was struck by both aspects of his visit to the cave on the island of Staffa. For all that it fails to live up to some of our usual expectations of this music, it’s an accomplished performance. It’s been recycled quite frequently – it was even once available on the short-lived Boots own label together with other maritime music and it’s also on Spirit of Scotland, CHAN10412X, and Seascapes, CHAN6538 – but it’s none the worse for that and the recording has worn well.

The inclusion of the first Piano Concerto, rather than the expected Violin Concerto, is for me the highlight of the CD. Most collectors, even those for whom an Introduction to ... would be likely to appeal, will already have a version of the Violin Concerto, or be likely to obtain one at an early stage, usually coupled with the Bruch or Tchaikovsky – there are plenty of versions to choose from, even in the lower price categories.

It’s quite unusual to find a bargain-price version of the First Piano Concerto: Peter Katin’s versions of both Piano Concertos once featured on a Decca Weekend recording, coupled with the Capriccio brilliant and Rondo brillant (425 504-2, long deleted) – good performances but in rather dated sound. Otherwise, as far as I am aware, the only competitor in this price range is Benjamin Frith’s Naxos version of the four works (8.550681), which I haven’t heard but which has been favourably reviewed.

That the performance offered is by Howard Shelley - as soloist and director of the London Mozart Players - is an added bonus, since this performance combines technical virtuosity and a delicacy of touch that ensures that this early work is never overwhelmed. Shelley’s tempo in the outer movements is brisk – he moves the music along without sounding rushed, especially in the Finale where he takes 6:11 against 6:54 on the Katin/Collins recording. In the slow movement, he gives the music time to breathe – 6:39 against Katin’s 6:13 – without sentimentalising it.

In the Capriccio brilliant he also give the music time to breathe – 11:28 against Katin’s 10:35; ensuring that the brilliance inferred by the title is not at the expense of expressiveness. When the brilliant music arrives, it is all the more effective for the contrast with the rather measured opening Andante. My only real criticism of this introductory CD is that it will probably lead buyers to duplication when, as they will be tempted to do, they purchase the parent Chandos CD, where Shelley performs both concertos plus the Capriccio (CHAN9215).

The Wedding March was an inevitable choice and it’s performed well by the RLPO under Sir Charles Groves, stately but not pompous.

If the two piano works make an unexpected but very welcome appearance on the CD, the more predictable choice of the Italian Symphony as the final work is equally welcome in the Philharmonia/Walter Weller version. Again, as with the Shelley performance, my only complaint is that those seeking recommendable versions of all Mendelssohn’s symphonies – and, surely, most collectors will want at least Nos.3-5, the Scottish, Italian and Reformation symphonies at some fairly early stage – are unlikely to find a better combination of affordable price, quality of performance and recording than the 3-CD Chandos set with Walter Weller (CHAN10224X).

Weller’s tempi for the symphony are generally on the fast side, though by no means excessively so. This is one of those works, like Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, where the outer movements lend themselves well to fast speeds. I felt that Weller might have given the slow movement a little more time to breathe, but it is marked Andante con moto. The con moto element is more in evidence here than in Wolfgang Sawallisch’s otherwise very fine performance with the predecessor of the same orchestra (then called the New Philharmonia) in 1966. The Sawallisch was formerly on Philips 422 470-2 with the Reformation Symphony (no longer available). How about a reissue from Australian Eloquence?

Only in the Finale is Weller marginally slower than Sawallisch; this movement combines elements of the saltarello and tarantella, both lively Italian dances. The latter is said to be imitative of the action of stamping on a poisonous tarantula spider or leaping about in agony after its bite – as the Latin American cucaracha imitates stamping on cockroaches. I would have preferred a slightly more hectic pace in this movement. At least, that was my feeling on my initial hearing – subsequently this account of the Finale has grown on me.

Though made at different times, all the recordings are more than acceptable. I tried the lossless download version (wma) from Chandos’s theclassicalshop.net and found it fully equal to CD quality; experience suggests that even the mp3 version would be more than acceptable. I couldn’t find this recording at classicsonline or on eMusic, both of whom do offer many Chandos downloads.

For a low-price series, all the notes which I have seen from this Introduction to ... series have been excellent and this recording is no exception. If the programme appeals, buy with confidence; the only reason why I have withheld any accolade is the likelihood that purchasers are likely to duplicate these performances in building their collection.

Don’t forget the Introduction to Vaughan Williams (CHAN2028) if you weren’t fortunate enough to receive the free offer. It contains The Wasps Overture, the Greensleeves Fantasia, The Lark Ascending, that favourite of Classic FM listeners, and the Second Symphony, all in more than decent performances. I was particularly pleased to see Bryden Thomson’s version of the symphony reappear in this form; it may not be quite the equal of the Barbirolli version from which I first got to know the work on a Pye Golden Guinea LP or Chandos’s own Richard Hickox performance of the original version, but it is well worth hearing as an alternative to the Hickox. Not everyone will want to hear the fuller version every time. I might have preferred the Tallis Fantasia to one of the shorter pieces – as a lover of Tallis, I’m fascinated by the perfect blending of the 16th and 20th centuries in this work. However I’m sure the Second was the right VW symphony to introduce to the beginner and the Thomson recording is one of the best from a variable series.

-- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

The most amazing piece that this teenager, who is reaching for the stars if not beyond, has composed – and at the age of fourteen – is his First Symphony for large orchestra entitled “Kraftwerk”. It is almost an understatement to prophecy this young man a great future. That the pianist Alexander M. Wagner is in no way inferior to the composer is proven by this recording of piano works, recorded by the sixteen-year-old in February

The soprano Louise Alder has been described as 'the brightest lyric soprano of the younger generation' (The Arts Desk),'a born actress' (Opera), and as having 'a voice of sparkling beauty' (Gramophone). In this her debut recording for Chandos, she and her pianist, Joseph Middleton, have devised an unusual but rewarding programme that explores the works of six contrasting composers. As she writes in her booklet note: ‘When Joseph suggested making an album of Russian songs, including Russian composers who set poems in other languages, I jumped at the challenge. The more we discussed the repertoire, the more amazed I was to see how well it fitted with my own family history. In 1916 (the same year that Rachmaninoff composed the Opus 38 songs), huge political unrest forced my great-grandparents and family to flee, shutting up the house in Odessa, travelling 1,687 km north by rail to St Petersburg, and then by sleigh into Finland, through Norway, and back to Britain. It is my pleasure to be able to honor my family’s Russian connection with this meandering sleigh ride through Russia, with songs in Russian, French, and German, into Finland, in Swedish, and Norway, in German, back to the UK for a cycle of Britten songs in Russian.’

This recording is a tribute to the chromatic harp, which, with its rich colors and theatrical effects, was perfectly tuned to the impressionist and art nouveau atmosphere of the turn of the 20th century. Geoffrey Gordon’s Jeux de Creation is inspired by music from the 1920s using both traditional and extended techniques, drawing on themes by Milhaud and Debussy to portray the past and present. Reflecting this aesthetic, the other works in this program include the artistry of Ravel and Faure, the quasi-orchestral effects of Debussy’s Danses, and Caplet’s sensuous and spectacular Divertissements.

Listen to the Naxos Podcast to learn more about this release

The composer's Russia Adrift is becoming something of a classic outside his native homeland. I was delighted to come across this recording of an arrangement for mezzo-soprano and orchestra; it's just as powerful as the original version. In addition, we have a beautiful three-movement 'small cantata' to words by Pasternak, Smeg idyot, from 1965, in which the choir's show their mettle, and from Music for Small Orchestra, from a year earlier, a work that undoubtedly has its own strength of character. This is an important addition to the ever-increasing Sviridov discography.

– Gramophone