PUSHKIN ROMANCES
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone
Ivari Ilja, piano
DE 3392

Operatic superstar Dmitri Hvorostovsky has become the supreme interpreter of the Russian Romance, with its rich resource of music and poetry.

“The sheer beauty of Hvorostovsky’s voice approaches legendary status” San Francisco Examiner • “…some of the most beautiful and eloquent sounds that can currently be heard from any human throat… His voice is redolent of luxury: beautiful tone, pinpoint intonation, elegant, and impassioned delivery.” The New York Times

This album offers seventeen songs, or “romances,” all composed to texts from works of Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet. The composers represented here have helped define the true meaning of the Russian Romance, and have created some of the world’s greatest song literature. Choosing only romances inspired by Pushkin texts, Hvorostovsky has upped the ante to make a musical statement no other singer has attempted.

GLINKA: I Recall a Wonderful Moment Ja pomnu chudnoe mgnovenie... • Declaration Priznanie • The Fire of Longing Burns in My Heart V krovi gorit ogon zhelania • The Night Zephyr Nochnoi Zefir • DARGOMYZHSKIY: The Youth and the Maiden Yunosha i deva • BORODIN: For the Shores of Thy Far Native Land Dla beregov otchizny dalnei • RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Clouds Begin to Scatter Redeet oblakov, Op. 42 No. 3 • On the Hills of Georgia Na kholmax Gruzii lezhit nochnaja mgla, Op. 3, No. 4 • CUI: The Statue at Tsarskoye Selo Carskosel’skaja statuja, Op. 57 No. 17 • I loved you Ya vas ljubil • MEDTNER: Gone Are my Heart’s Desires Ya perezhil svoi zhelania, Op. 3, No. 2 • Winter Evening (The Snowstorm Covers the Sky with Darkness) Zimnii vecher (Buria Mglou nebo kroet), Op. 13, No. 1 • To a Dreamer Mechtatelu • VLASOV: To the Fountain of Bakhchisarai Palace Fontanu Bakhchisarajsogo dvortsa • TCHAIKOVSKY: Nightingale Solovei, Op. 60, No. 4 • RACHMANINOV: Don’t Sing To Me, Fair Maiden Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne, Op. 4 No. 4 • SVIRIDOV: The Crimson Forest Sheds its Attire Roniayet les bagrianiy svoi ubor.