TCHAIKOVSKY: Complete Songs vol. 1

Kazarnovskaya, Ljuba;
Orefenova, Ljuba

8.554357

Russia's contribution to European song during the second half of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth is of considerable importance and interest With little or no tradition of their own, apart from a very distinctive folk-song literature, Russian composers inevitably turned to other Continental models – to Germany in particular, and to Italy – but quickly evolved a national school that may be said to have produced some of their country's finest music. The greatest Russian song composer of the nineteenth century is, without doubt, Mussorgsky, closely followed by Balakirev and Borodin, but close behind them comes Tchaikovsky, whose qualities as a lyricist are understandably overshadowed by his stature as an opera composer (just as his many pieces for solo piano are by his concertos). • Between 1869 and 1893 Tchaikovsky composed just over a hundred songs, most of them published in sets of six and settings of words by second-rate Russian poets.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

10-05-1999

636943435724