Arias of Love & Sorrow / Hakobyan, Fischer, Orbelian, Kaunas City Symphony
Gevorg Hakobyan is a rising star on the international operatic stage. His deep, resonant voice brings drama and color to every aria on this album. Three unusual selections in Armenian – including Mosi’s Aria from Anoush, the most important opera in the Armenian language – enhance this debut recording. Drawing from favorite operas such as Verdi’s Otello and Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, Arias of Love & Sorrow joins recent Delos releases including Oksana Dyka’s In Questa Reggia, Oksana Volkova’s Poison D’Amour and Kristian Benedikt’s Tenore di forza in bringing new and captivating voices to fans of opera.
REVIEW:
Armenian baritone Gevorg Hakobyan has a wonderfully rich, colorful, dark baritone with a solid lower register and a ringing top that can only be a boon for the contemporary opera world. He has not yet sung in this country; we can hope that will be change soon. Comparisons with Ettore Bastianini and Anselmo Colzani are fully justified. He also has some timbral similarity to Sergei Leiferkus, but Hakobyan has his own unique sound as well.
We are given arias from Verdi’s Otello, Nabucco, and Ballo in Maschera, Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, and Puccini’s Tabarro as the Italian portion of the program. He sings these all with imagination and a solid legato. His Russian arias (from Aleko, Prince Igor, The Tsar’s Bride, The Queen of Spades) benefit from his fluency in Russian. Incidentally, he sings Tomsky’s harrowing aria from Act 1 where he tells the Countess’s back story rather than Yeletzsky’s more romantic aria later on. With the baritone’s precise diction and exciting high G at the end, it’s one of the best selections on the program. Hakobyan also treats us to three arias by Armenian composers Levon Khodya-Eynatyan and Armen Tigranian, displaying his consumate legato and keen ability to create a character through song.
Delos habitually employs the Kaunas City Orchestra and for good reason. There are two conductors, John Fischer and Constantine Orbelian, probably because of the gap in recording sessions.
-- American Record Guide (David Reynolds)
Product Description:
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Release Date: February 03, 2023
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UPC: 013491357225
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Catalog Number: DE 3572
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Label: Delos
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Number of Discs: 1
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Period: Romantic, 20th Century, Contemporary
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Composer: Tigran Chukhajian, Umberto Giordano, Giacomo Puccini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Armen Tigranian, Giuseppe Verdi
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Conductor: Constantine Orbelian, John Fisher
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Orchestra/Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
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Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Works:
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Otello, Act II: Vanne! la tua meta gia vedo - Credo in un dio crude!
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Andrea Chénier: “Nemico della patria”
Composer: Umberto Giordano
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Arshak II: Arioso: Es ktsankam
Composer: Levon Khodja-Eynatyan
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Il tabarro: Nulla! Silenzio!
Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Aleko: Ves' tabar spit
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Nabucco, Act IV: Recitative: Son pur queste mie membra? Ah! fra le selve … Dio di Guida!
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Un ballo in maschera, Act I: Alzati, là tuo figlio … Eri tu che macchiavi
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Prince Igor, Act II: Aria: Ni sna ne otdykha
Composer: Alexander Borodin
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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The Tsar's Bride, Act I: Ne tot teper ya stal…Kuda ty, udal prezhnyaya, devalas
Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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The Queen of Spades, Act I: Odnazhdy v Versale au jeu de la Reine
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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Anush: Aria: Dushman dardzanq en harsanqic
Composer: Armen Tigranian
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher
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David-Bek, Act II: Aria: Oh, im chqnakh
Composer: Armen Tigranian
Ensemble: Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Gevorg Hakobyan
Conductor: John Fisher