Rachmaninov: Aleko

Gennady Bezzubenkov declaims powerfully as the Old Gypsy, and Evgeny Akimov is elegant in his short cavatina. The chorus, from Turin's Teatro Regio, supplies suitably languid tone. — BBC Music Magazine, May 2010, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 29th Mar 2010
Catalogue No: CHAN10583
Label: Chandos
Series: Gianandrea Noseda Rachmaninov series
Length: 50 minutes

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Rachmaninov: Aleko (Sung in Russian)

Work length50:50

$15.00

$18.00

Nadezhda Vasilieva (mezzo-soprano), Gennady Bezzubenkov (bass), Evgeny Akimov (tenor), Svetla Vassileva (soprano), Sergey Murzaev (baritone)
BBC Philharmonic, Torino Teatro Regio Chorus
Gianandrea Noseda

Introduction

Track length1:58

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Chorus: As dear as freedom is our happy encampment

Track length4:03

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Chorus: The magic power of song - (Old Gypsy)

Track length4:54

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Chorus: But why did you not immediately hasten after the thankless wretch - (Aleko, Zemfira, Young Gypsy, Old Gypsy)

Track length1:57

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$1.20

Women's Dance

Track length3:50

$1.00

$1.20

Men's Dance

Track length4:17

$1.00

$1.20

Chorus: The fires have gone out

Track length2:25

$1.00

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Duet: Just one more kiss! (Young Gypsy, Zemfira)

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.20

Cradle Scene: Old man, fearful man … (Zemfira, Aleko)

Track length3:41

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Cavatina: The whole camp sleeps - (Aleko)

Track length5:41

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$1.20

Intermezzo

Track length2:05

$1.00

$1.20

Romance: Look how beneath the distant vault of heaven - (Young Gypsy)

Track length1:36

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$1.20

Finale: Duet: It's time to go, my love, it's time! - (Young Gypsy, Aleko)

Track length4:49

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Chorus: What's all this noise? What is that cry? (Old Gypsy, Zemfira, Old Gypsy Woman, Aleko)

Track length4:07

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Chorus: We are gentle and kind-hearted (Old Gypsy, Aleko)

Track length3:11

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Favourites, Sergei Rachmaninov

David picks out some recordings of the works of Rachmaninov, perhaps the greatest composer for the piano of the Twentieth Century.

Opera is one of the great musical passions of Gianandrea Noseda, who has explored it to stunning effect with the BBC Philharmonic. In September 2009 he became Music Director at Teatro Regio in Turin, one of Europe’s leading opera houses. Here he presents Aleko, recorded following a highly acclaimed performance at the Stresa Festival with the Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino and the BBC Philharmonic. The ‘all-Russian’ cast of soloists are Sergey Murzaev (soloist with the Bolshoy Theatre), Evgeny Akimov and Nadezhda Vasilieva (both soloists with the Mariinsky Theatre Company), Gennady Bezzubenkov and the world-renowned soprano Svetla Vassileva. Chandos has previously released The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini.

Sometimes referred to as Rachmaninoff’s answer to Carmen, Aleko (adapted from The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin) was written in 1892 as a graduation work at the Moscow Conservatory and won the highest prizes from the judges that year. The rhapsodic Orientalism and effortless melodies in particular appeal. As a companion to his two later operas, Aleko illustrates Rachmaninoff early finding his own individual style.

Reviews

May 2010

Gennady Bezzubenkov declaims powerfully as the Old Gypsy, and Evgeny Akimov is elegant in his short cavatina. The chorus, from Turin's Teatro Regio, supplies suitably languid tone.

Aleko is sometimes described as Russia's answer to Carmen - the tale of a Russian living among gypsies whose much younger wife takes a new lover, with predictably grim consequences, certainly bears a resemblance to the Iberian passions of Bizet's opera. But Aleko is a smaller affair, at just over an hour long, and perhaps for this reason has never really entered the operatic repertoire. This is a shame, since as this recording with Sergey Murzaev and Svetla Vassileva demonstrates, it's a melodious and captivating work.

13th May 2010

[Noseda] conducts with his usual mix of passion and intellectual rigour, and there's some startlingly effective playing.

14th May 2010

Noseda’s skill here is to maintain control of pacing and to keep the drama both tense and fluid...Turin’s Teatro Regio chorus adeptly assumes its role as a band of Bessarabian gipsies and the BBC Philharmonic plays superbly.

17th April 2010

Noseda’s no shrinking violet, and this studio recording with the BBC Philharmonic, five impassioned Russian voices, and the choir of Turin’s Teatro Regio pulsates with passion...Sergey Murzaev barrels forth as the outsider hero Aleko; Svetlana Vassileva is succulent as the Gypsy with two lovers.

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