Composer: Vissarion Shebalin
Performer: Russian Conservatory Chamber Choir
Conductor: Nikolai Khondzinsky
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0112
Release: 2011
Size: 216 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
5 A Cappella Choruses, Op. 42
01. No. 1. Message to the Decembrists
02. No. 2. Song about Stenka Razin
03. No. 3. The Winter Road
04. No. 4. Chattering Magpie
05. No. 5. Echo
3 A Cappella Choruses to Words by M. Lermontov, Op. 47
06. No. 1. The Warrior’s Grave
07. No. 2. The Sail
08. No. 3. The Cliff
3 A Cappella Choruses to Verses of A. Sofronov, Op. 44
09. No. 1. Immortelle
10. No. 2. The Wild Grapevine
11. No. 3. Wormwood
6 A Cappella Choruses to Words by M. Tank, Op. 45
12. No. 1. The Cossack urged on his steed
13. No. 2. A Mother’s oughts of her Son
14. No. 3. The Skylark
15. No. 4. To a Birch Tree
16. No. 5. Spring Beauty
17. No. 6. Over the Burial-Mounds
4 A Cappella Choruses to Words by M. Isakovsky, Op. 50
18. No. 1. Let every Hour be Happy!
19. No. 2. The Oak
20. No. 3. It is fine to stroll in spring
21. No. 4. Autumn
3 Choruses to Verses by Moldavian Poets, Op. 52
22. No. 1. Twilight in the Valley
23. No. 2. The Poplar
24. No. 3. Mariora is going away
To My Grandchildren, Op. 57
25. No. 1. In the Orchard
26. No. 2. The Bee
27. No. 3. Raindrops
28. No. 4. Summer is here
In the Forest Clearing, Op. 59
29. No. 1. The Snowdrop
30. No. 2. The Lily-of-the-Valley
31. No. 3. The Violet
32. No. 4. The Buttercup
33. No. 5. The Forget-Me-Not
34. No. 6. The Dandelion
35. No. 7. The Carnation
36. Glinka: Oh, my Dawn!
The Siberian-born Vissarion Shebalin (1902–63) is best known for his instrumental music, which includes five symphonies and nine string quartets, some of which have been heard on CD.
He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Myaskovsky, who recommended him to be appointed to the teaching staff immediately upon his graduation. He remained there as Professor of Composition for the next 50 years, also teaching at the Gnessin Institute and Central Music School, and quickly became one of the most authoritative leaders of young composers, his compendious musical and humanitarian culture and personal dignity giving him enormous moral authority on top of his reputation as an outstanding pedagogue.
His students included an astonishing array of composers, among them Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ester Mägi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Tchaikovsky and Veljo Tormis.
Shebalin had to endure much hardship: along with Shostakovich, a close friend and colleague, he was one of the composers condemned in the infamous 1948 Party congress in Moscow; and in later life he fought to overcome a series of crippling strokes.
These tribulations he faced with understated but unshakable optimism. This is the first recording of the eight delightful, and very Russian, choral cycles he wrote from 1949.