Vishnevskaya Operatic Recital

Lord Harewood called this tape in his collection a “Galina Vishnevskaya Recital”.   In fact it is a compilation of arias and duets from recordings made by the Soviet label Melodiya from early in her career.  These are studio recordings, not live ones.  However, this issue pays tribute to Vishnevskaya as a great operatic artist, much admired by Lord Harewood.

From these recordings, all sung in Russian, you can see why Vishnevskaya was known as the Russian Callas.  Her intensity and her dramatic fire bring the pieces she sings vividly to life.  Shebalin’s The Taming of the Shrew sounds rather anodyne to modern, western ears, but it is clear from this recording that Vishnevskaya must have been a formidable Kate!

Vishnevskaya is accompanied by two of the great Soviet tenors, Sergei Lemeshev and Ivan Kozlovsky.  The latter was said to be Stalin’s favourite over a very long career, but nevertheless  his voice combines a heady sweetness with a forceful dramatic power.  Both tenors have exemplary, crystal-clear diction.

Boris Khaikin conducted Vishnevskaya’s breakthrough recording of Yevgeni Onegin in 1955 (also with Lemeshev) and was a stalwart of  Soviet operatic life at the time.  Yevgeni Svetlanov went on to have a major operatic and symphonic career, not only in the Soviet Union but internationally.

Jules Massenet (1842 – 1912)

Werther

Track 1:  Letter Scene (Act 3)

Track 2: Scene of Charlotte and Werther (Act 3)

Track 3:

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)

La Traviata

1. Duet Violetta and Alfredo (Act 1)
2. Violetta aria (Act 2)
3. Duet Violetta and Alfredo (Act 4)

Track 4:

Vissarion Shebalin (1902 – 1963)

The Taming of the Shrew

Four excerpts

Track 5:

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908)

The Snow Maiden

Two excerpts

The recital is made of up recordings made in 1957 (The Snow Maiden), 1961 (Taming of the Shrew) and 1963 (Werther and La Traviata).