Special offer. Dargomïzhsky: Rusalka
Evelina Dobraceva (soprano), Arutjun Kotchinian (bass), Vsevolod Grivnov (tenor), Marina Prudenskaja (mezzo-soprano), Elena Bryleva (soprano), Andrey Telegin (bass) & Martha Jurowski (soprano)
WDR Rundfunkchor Köln & WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Michail Jurowski
Recorded in Cologne with a cast steeped in the Russian idiom, this is a very welcome recording...Evelina Dobraceva...sings the title with rich-toned flexibility, and Vsevolod Grivnov sings the...
Special offer. Dargomïzhsky: Rusalka
Evelina Dobraceva (soprano), Arutjun Kotchinian (bass), Vsevolod Grivnov (tenor), Marina Prudenskaja (mezzo-soprano), Elena Bryleva (soprano), Andrey Telegin (bass) & Martha Jurowski (soprano)
WDR Rundfunkchor Köln & WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Michail Jurowski
Purchase product
Recorded in Cologne with a cast steeped in the Russian idiom, this is a very welcome recording...Evelina Dobraceva...sings the title with rich-toned flexibility, and Vsevolod Grivnov sings the...
About
Almost forgotten today, Alexander Dargomïzhsky was a major figure in the early history of Russian music. The opera Rusalka was where Dargomïzhsky discovered his own tonal language.
The text is expanded from Alexander Pushkin's unfinished verse drama into a passionate love story of frivolity, jealousy and revenge.
Dargomïzhsky was the first composer to set a literary drama to music by using the written text. He goes against the conventional divisions into arias, duets and ensembles. Instead he looked to explore the emotion of the original words. "I want the sound to express the word directly. I want the truth"
Contents and tracklist
- Vsevolod Grivnov (tenor), Arutjun Kotchinian (bass), Marina Prudenskaja (alto), Evelina Dobracheva (soprano), Elena Bryleva (soprano), Andrey Telegin (bass), Martha Jurowski (soprano)
- Cologne West German Radio Chorus, Cologne West German Radio Orchestra
- Michail Jurowski
Awards and reviews
October 2010
Recorded in Cologne with a cast steeped in the Russian idiom, this is a very welcome recording...Evelina Dobraceva...sings the title with rich-toned flexibility, and Vsevolod Grivnov sings the high-lying part of her Prince with great fluency...and the score sounds compelling under the excellent baton of Michail Jurowski.
September 2010
The best of the singers is the mezzo, Marina Prudenskaja...Jurowski conducts in a way that suggests a close personal engagement and the Cologne orchestra plays well for him.
July/August 2010
Evelina Dobracheva...possesses a dark, dramatic, lyric spinto voice...The soft-grained bass of Arutyun Kotchinian fits the part of the Miller well...Marina Prudenskaya lavishes her velvety mezzo on the Princess's richly scored music...The WDR Köln Radio Orchestra plays with impressive gusto, guided by Jurowski, who knows just the right tempo to set.
January 2015
Dargomyzhsky’s opera Rusalka is scandalously neglected and this 2008 recording serves its cause magnificently. A credit to all concerned as this is the most rewarding opera recording I have heard for some time.
