A.GURILYOV: The Maiden's Sorrow; Music Within; In the Memory of Varlamov: A.S. DARGOMYZHSKY: Odelas’ tumanami Sierra – Nevada (The Sierra Nevada was covered with Mist); Kamenny Gost (The Stone Guest) (Arr. For voice and guitar); Granada is covered by Fog (Arr. For voice and guitar) : ALYABYEV: Waltz; Solovey (The Nightingale )(Arr. for guitar) :VARLAMOV: Krasny Sarafan (The Red Sarafan); Na Zare Ty Jejo Ne Budi (Don’t Wake her at Dawn); Angel :BAKHMETEV: Little Ring: TITOV: Talisman (Arr. for guitar): CIMAROSA : Cavatina: SYCHRA: Spanish Bolero: KONDENKO : Dusk: SARENKO: Time Was, Time Was…: ANON: French Romance; Shall I Go Forth: GLINKA : Nochnoy Zefir: (The Night Zephyr): MASLOFSKY: But Sylvia is not Here; The Sun is Shining Over the Mountain:
Oleg Timofeyev (Russian 7 string Guitar) with Anna Bineta Diouf (Mezzo – soprano) and the Dashkova Ensemble
Profil Medien : PH19009
The Russian 7- string guitar is what is being played here in this recital of Russian songs intermingled with 8 guitar solos .It does instantly sound a little different from our usual 6 – string but then its tuning, which is basically a G Major chord (D, B, G, D, B, G, B – from high to low) does automatically create the occasional sound that you instantly realize wouldn’t be possible on our usual 6 stringer.
The first thing you notice about this recording is, in my case at any rate, that there are only a small handful of composers you have actually heard of before (in my case 4, including the Anon!)
The opening track written by Aleksander Gurilyov (1803- 1858)is a fine example of what the CD is all about. With Timofeyev accompanying, Anna Bineta Diouf does a beautiful job of The Maiden’s Sorrow, a sad, haunting melody with lovely guitar accompaniment. The following track by Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813 – 1869) (The Sierra Nevada was covered with mist) is a lively song with Spanish/Flamenco accompaniment at times and a complete contrast to the former
The next track, Waltz, by Alexander Alyabyev (1787- 1851) is a solo guitar work by a man who wrote both operas and theatrical works, but also a symphony, string quartets and many other pieces including guitar works. The depth of the 7 string guitar is beautifully captured and the recording is natural but also close, without any off – putting string noises. The next work by the same composer (The Nightingale) has been arranged from a song for guitar solo, and is another lovely example of some wonderful music that you probably won’t have heard before.
There are far too many pieces to discuss separately but the three offerings from the other song composer, Alexander Varlamov (1801 – 1848) are every bit as beautiful as the rest of this recital.
As for the other solos, Bakhmetev’s Little Ring is a sad little piece with romantic harmonies, whilst Titov’s Talisman, another arrangement, is more classical in style, both beautifully done, to name but two of them.
There are no bad tracks here, and the singing and playing are wonderfully captured and the whole recital is a real eye – opener, as unless you are really into Russian 7 string – guitar music and their 19th Century song composers, just about everything in this recital will be completely new to you, but it’s worth it !
Chris Dumigan
Comments