Composer: Alexander Borodin, Elena Firsova, Nicolai Miaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Taneyev, Boris Tchaikovsky
Performer: Hamish McLaren, Matthew Jorysz, Nathalie Green-Buckley, Claudia Fuller, Ben Michaels
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Orchid
Release: 2021
Size: 1.28 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Tchaikovsky: From Kipling
No. 1, The Distant Amazon
Shostakovich: Two Romances to lyrics by M Lermontov Op. 84
No. 1, Morning in the Caucasus
No. 2, Ballad
Borodin: My Songs Are Full of Poison
Borodin: Dlya beregov otchizni dal’noy (For the Shores of thy Far Native Land)
Taneyev: Night in the Mountains of Scotland (from Poems (5), Op. 33)
Taneyev: Stalaktity, Op. 26 No. 6
Tchaikovsky: Two Poems by Mikhail Lermontov
No. 1, Autumn
No. 2, The Pine
Miaskovsky: The Albatross (from The Days of Youth, Op. 2)
Shostakovich: Six Spanish Songs Op. 100
No. 1, Farewell, Granada!
No. 2, The Little Stars
No. 3, The First Meeting
No. 4, Ronda
No. 5, The Dark-Eyed Girl
No. 6, Dream
Shostakovich: Desdemona’s Romance
Shostakovich: A Pointless Gift, a Chance Gift
Firsova: Songs (2) to Poems by Boris Pasternak
No. 1, The Wind
No. 2, Twilight
Miaskovsky: The Sphinx (from The Days of Youth, Op. 2)
Firsova: Winter Elegy, Op. 91
Russia’s rich tradition of art song began with early 19th-century salon pieces: lyrical ‘romances’ that evolved to embrace grander themes yet never lost their intimacy. This selection explores some fascinating but less-trodden paths through this repertoire, inspired by the theme of distant lands and encompassing the enduring themes of travel, romantic landscapes, love and loss, life and death. In this recital, Borodin meets Taneyev, a Moscow composition professor from the next generation; Shostakovich stands alongside another major symphonist, his Moscow colleague Myaskovsky, and Shostakovich’s student Boris Tchaikovsky, a prodigy widely known for his film music, passes the baton to Elena Firsova, a post-Soviet émigré to England and a distinctive lyrical voice of today. Inspired by the songs of Taneyev, Myaskovksy and Firsova, countertenor Hamish McLaren embarked on distant travels of his own, journeying to Russia where he found two previously unreleased film songs by Shostakovich, heard here in their world-premiere recordings.