Composer: Edison Denisov, Tikhon Khrennikov, Yuri Levitin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgii Sviridov
Performer: Vassily Savenko, Alexander Blok
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0039
Release: 2008
Size: 207 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Sviridov: Burns Songs
01. No. 1. Davno li tsvel zeleniy dol (The Winter of Life)
02. No. 2. Vozvrascheniye soldata (The Return of the Soldier)
03. No. 3. John Anderson
04. No. 4. Robin
05. No. 5. Gorsky paren (Highland Laddie)
06. No. 6. Findlay
07. No. 7. Vsiu zemliu tmoy zavoloklo (There Is Darkness Over All the Land)
08. No. 8. Proschchay (Farewell)
09. No. 9. Chestnaya bednost (Honest Poverty)
Denisov: 5 pesen (5 Songs)
10. No. 1. Malen’kaya ballada (A Little Ballad)
11. No. 2. Jenny
Shostakovich: 6 Romances, Op. 62 (text by R. Burns)
12. No. 2. V polyakh, pod snegom i dozhdyom (Oh Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast)
13. No. 3. McPherson pered kazn’yu (Macpherson’s Farewell)
14. No. 4. Jenny
Levitin: Song-Cycle to Verses by Robert Burns, Op. 51
15. No. 1. Lyubov (Love)
16. No. 2. John Anderson
17. No. 3. Shelagh O’Neil
18. No. 4. Gde-to v peshchere (Some in a cave)
19. No. 5. Iz vsekh vetrov (Of all the winds)
Khrennikov: 5 Songs to Verses by Robert Burns
20. No. 1. Zastol’naya (A Toast)
21. No. 2. Luchshy paren (The Bonniest Lad)
22. No. 5. V polyakh, pod snegom i dozhdyom (In Snow-girl Fields)
In an extraordinary twist of literary history, Robert Burns, the world-renowned 18th-century Scottish poet, became the ‘people’s poet’ of Russia. In Imperial times the Russian aristocracy were so out of touch with the peasantry that Burns, translated into Russian, became a symbol for the ordinary Russian people. In Soviet Russia Burns was elevated as the archetypical poet of the people – not least since the Soviet regime slaughtered and silenced its own poets. A new translation of Burns, begun in 1924 by the Jewish writer Samuel Marshak (1887– 1964), proved enormously popular, selling over 600,000 copies. This CD contains settings of some of Burns’ best-loved poems, including ‘Comin thro’ the Rye’, ‘MacPherson’s Farewell’, ‘Comin thro’ the Rye’, ‘My love is like a red, red rose’, ‘John Anderson, my Jo’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Vassily Savenko and Alexander Blok (a relative of the poet) are renowned for their recordings of Russian songs. The booklet notes are by Burns authority Andrew Noble, editor of the authoritative The Canongate Burns, and Russian-music expert Stuart Campbell. Full Russian song-texts with English translations by renowned Russian translator Anthony Phillips.