Arensky & Rachmaninoff: Romances

$20.99
Label
SOMM Recordings
Release Date
February 20, 2026
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Anton Arensky, Sergei Rachmaninoff
    • PERFORMER
      Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 20, 2026
    • UPC
      748871071629
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      SOMMCD 0716
    • LABEL
      SOMM Recordings
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Art Song
    Works ⌄

    1. No. 1. Schast'ye

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    2. No. 2. Osen'

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    3. No. 3. Kolybel'naya

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    4. No. 4. Nebosklon oslepitel'no-siniy

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    5. No. 5. Ya na tebya glyazhu s ulybkoy

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    6. 12 Songs, Op. 14: No. 1. Ya zhdu tebya (I wait for you)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    7. 12 Songs, Op. 21: No. 5. Siren' (Lilacs)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    8. No. 2. Ditja! Kak cvetok ty prekrasna (Child! You are as beautiful as a flower)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    9. No. 5. Son (Dream)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    10. No. 4. One otvechali (They Answered)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    11. No. 7. Zdes' khorosho (How fair this spot!)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    12. 5 Romances: No. 1. Poėziya (Poetry)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    13. 5 Romances, Op. 64: No. 3. Gornimi tikho letela dusha nebesami

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    14. 6 Romances, Op. 27: No. 2. Osen' (Autumn)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    15. No. 1. Iz divnykh dney (Now the last day of many years)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    16. No. 2. Nad morem spal sosnovy les (We wander'd to the pine forest)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    17. No. 3. Drug s drugom sosnï obnyalis' (The Pines Embraced One Another)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    18. No. 4. Kak tikho vsyo! (How calm it was!)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    19. No. 5. I dolgo myi, sklonivshi vzor (We paused beside the pools that lie)

      Composer: Anton Stepanovich Arensky

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    20. 15 Songs, Op. 26: No. 12. Noch' pechal'na (Night is Mournful)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    21. 12 Songs, Op. 21: No. 3. Sumerki (Twilight)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    22. 14 Songs, Op. 34: No. 4. Veter perelyotniy (The Migrant Wind)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    23. No. 3. Margaritki (Daisies)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    24. No. 4. Krisolov (The Rat-Catcher)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    25. No. 5. Son (A Dream)

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin

    26. No. 6. A-u!

      Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

      Performer: Anastasia Prokofieva, Sergey Rybin


MM Recordings presents a seductive and captivating release of Russian art songs, an intriguing juxtaposition of Russian Romances for voice and piano by Anton Arensky (1861-1906) and his student Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). The recital, "performed with great charm and sympathy" (Opera Today), features two artists making their debut for SOMM: lyric coloratura soprano Anastasia Prokofieva-a rising young star in the opera world, described as "striking" by Opera Magazine-and London-based conductor, pianist, and vocal coach Sergey Rybin, an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under SOMM recording artist Malcolm Martineau. Sergey Rybin's excellent notes, together with full texts and translations, help bring these neglected gems to light and highlight the inner connection between Arensky and Rachmaninoff. While there is no doubt that Rachmaninoff was possessed of a unique and innate musical gift, he acknowledged the profound influence of his teacher and mentor Arensky, who was his professor of harmony, counterpoint, and free composition at the Moscow Conservatory between 1885 and 1888, when Rachmaninoff was still a teenager. Arensky's writing-and Rachmaninoff's, too-is full of eminently singable melodies that are deeply connected both to bel canto and to a Russian folk aesthetic. Sergey Rybin also makes the point that a certain virtuosic flair in the piano parts of these románsy, by both the professor and the pupil, "are unmistakably the branches of the same stylistic tree." Anton Arensky studied composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and he was just twenty-one when he began teaching harmony and counterpoint-and later, instrumentation and free composition-at the Moscow Conservatory. While his role as a teacher may well be his most lasting contribution, he remained active as a composer of operas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and piano works. He also wrote fifty-seven románsy, which show his affinity for intimate, emotional expression. Included among the thirteen art songs by Arensky on this release are the Five Romances, Op. 70 from 1900, and the five-song cycle Reminiscence, Op. 71, circa 1905. Before Rachmaninoff left Russia permanently in 1917, he composed a total of eighty-three románsy for voice and piano. His gift for lush melodies, expansive emotional range, and exceptionally difficult piano works makes him one of the last great Romantic pianist-composers, and these stellar qualities are evident in his art songs. Thirteen are presented on this programme. The earliest, from his Six Songs, Op. 8 written in 1893, include Child! You are as beautiful as a flower and Dream. The Twelve Songs, Op. 21, composed in 1902, include some of his finest vocal writing, Lilacs being an exquisite example. Rachmaninoff's last compositions in the genre of románsy were the Six Songs, Op. 38 in 1916; four from this set close the recital.