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Lyatoshynsky: Romances For Low Voice & Piano / Savenko, Blok
Toccata

Lyatoshynsky: Romances For Low Voice & Piano / Savenko, Blok

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Details

Composer
BORYS LYATOSHYNSKY
Artist
Piano, Bass, Alexander Blok, Vassily Savenko
Format
CD
Label
Toccata
Released
May 28, 2013
Catalog #
TOCC0053
UPC
5060113440532

About

The music of the Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky (1895–1968) is familiar in his home country but sorely neglected abroad. Lyatoshynsky’s songs are neglected even there: this anthology of his best romantsiy for low voice and piano contains many first recordings.
The songs meld intense Scriabinesque expressionism with elements of Ukrainian folksong in a language that embraces both the lyrical and the dramatic. His setting of Shelley’s Ozymandias, with its warning of the impermanence of power, was a brave act in the Soviet Union of 1924. The booklet contains full sung texts, with English translations by Russian-music expert Anthony Phillips, who also provides an extensive introduction to Lyatoshynsky.

REVIEW:

Ukrainian composer Boris Liatoshinsky (1895–1968) studied with Gliere at the Kiev Conservatory and then became a life-long member of that faculty. Death, melancholy, dread, and grief over unrequited love are the subjects of his chosen texts by mostly Ukrainian poets Ivan Bunin, Alexei Pleshcheyev, Leonid Pervomaiski, Maxim Rylsky, and Volodymyr Sosyura as well as Heine and Shelley. The mood of his songs is consistently somber.

The program of works from 1922 to 1951 is ordered mostly chronologically. His earliest compositions show an evident love of Schumann, Chopin, and Borodin; but the works heard here show a Scriabinesque expressionist style that reflects the cultural chaos following WW I and the Russian Revolution. His 1924 setting of Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ with its image of the impermanence of power shows his courage and conviction in the face of Socialist Realism as Stalin was consolidating his stranglehold over the Soviet Union.

The performances here are broodingly powerful. Savenko’s lyric bass is a good fit for these songs, written specifically for bass (or low voice). With smooth legato singing and well applied dynamics, his performance gives full expression to their mournful nature.

-- American Record Guide

Tracklist 23 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. After the Battle 03:25
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. After the Battle
    Duration
    03:25
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  2. 2 No. 2. Death (At the Cemetery) 02:57
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Death (At the Cemetery)
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  3. 3 No. 3. An Old Song 02:28
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. An Old Song
    Duration
    02:28
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  4. 4 No. 4. A Dirge 01:45
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. A Dirge
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  5. 5 No. 5. I Dreamed: The Moon Shone Sadly 02:27
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. I Dreamed: The Moon Shone Sadly
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  6. 6 3 Stikhotvoreniya P. Shelli (3 Poems of Shelley), Op. 14: No. 3. Good Night 02:39
    Track
    6
    Title
    3 Stikhotvoreniya P. Shelli (3 Poems of Shelley), Op. 14: No. 3. Good Night
    Duration
    02:39
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  7. 7 Ozymandias, Op. 15 03:59
    Track
    7
    Title
    Ozymandias, Op. 15
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  8. 8 No. 1. Accursed Place 02:47
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 1. Accursed Place
    Duration
    02:47
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  9. 9 No. 2. The Tomb 02:04
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 2. The Tomb
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  10. 10 No. 3. At the Crossroads 02:43
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 3. At the Crossroads
    Duration
    02:43
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  11. 11 No. 1. On the Hills of Georgia 02:59
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 1. On the Hills of Georgia
    Duration
    02:59
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  12. 12 No. 2. Three Springs 02:15
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 2. Three Springs
    Duration
    02:15
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  13. 13 No. 3. There on the Shore 01:59
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 3. There on the Shore
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  14. 14 The Sun 01:50
    Track
    14
    Title
    The Sun
    Duration
    01:50
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  15. 15 No. 1. Your Eyes are like the Sea 01:31
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 1. Your Eyes are like the Sea
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  16. 16 No. 3. Boundless Plain 02:05
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 3. Boundless Plain
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  17. 17 No. 4. Why do you never laugh? 02:25
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 4. Why do you never laugh?
    Duration
    02:25
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  18. 18 No. 5. Do not pass by so proudly my child 01:28
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 5. Do not pass by so proudly my child
    Duration
    01:28
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  19. 19 2 Romances to Verses by Pervomaysky, Op. 32: No. 2. Recurring Dreams 02:09
    Track
    19
    Title
    2 Romances to Verses by Pervomaysky, Op. 32: No. 2. Recurring Dreams
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  20. 20 No. 1. A Letter to Siberia 03:26
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 1. A Letter to Siberia
    Duration
    03:26
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  21. 21 No. 2. Elegy 02:03
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 2. Elegy
    Duration
    02:03
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  22. 22 No. 1. The Star 05:17
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 1. The Star
    Duration
    05:17
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
  23. 23 No. 2. The Height of Happiness 04:37
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 2. The Height of Happiness
    Duration
    04:37
    Composer
    Boris Mikolayovich Lyatoshinsky
    Performer
    Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok