Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Christianne Stotijn, Julius Drake :: Tchaikovsky: Romances

Tchaikovsky's Lesser Known Songs Emotionally Conveyed!

Raymond Vacchino | Toronto, ON. Canada | 02/18/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When we think about Tchaikovsky one reflects on the immense grandeur of his varied compositional output in every genre, however, his collection of songs that offer prominence equal to those composed by Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Rachmaninov and more are really not well known.



Even with my own extensive musical background and career, I must admit that I was not aware that Tchaikovsky had composed these magnificent songs! This recording titled "Romances", given by mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn, offers singing that is brimming over with emotional depth, pathos, outpouring-grief and unrequited love.



Stotijn and pianist Julius Drake perform "Can it Be Day?", a song once known as "pour toi". Their collaboration beautifully conveys the inner surges of ecstasy found in its melody and reminds us of the Tchaikovsky that made himself known in Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. In general these songs are stories of lost love and death with the two best-known of them starting the recital.



"At the Ball", is a story of reminiscence and passion conveyed with the character of a sad waltz, and "None But the Lonely Heart". In researching the history of the later song, I was amazed to find that almost every significant singer has performed this, most notably Rosa Ponselle. Stotijn and Drake offer a performance that conjures every conceivable reflection of ghosts from a darkened past world. Stotijn's innate, dark Slavonic vocal timbre is true to form in its aesthetic and style.



The performance of "The Bride's Lament", seems to be the culmination point with singing that is filled with grief stricken emotion and this pair set the mood with Drake's superb pianism, making each song a duet of equal musical importance. There are also humorous moments that are found in the sixteen children's songs composed in the 1880's, "Cuckoo", being one of them.



The entire recording offers performances of extraordinary devotional weight and inner reflection. The singing is admirably unhurried and always purposeful along with careful and sensitive voicing between Stotijn and Drake. This remarkable quality generates extraordinary revelations throughout, and as a result sheds brimming light on Tchaikovsky's songs!



I must congratulate Gramophone Magazine for including these songs in this month's issue and encourage everyone to add this new recording to their music library as you will find yourselves playing it over and over again!



"If Tchaikovsky's songs are not well enough known, this superb recital should encourage more interest in them."

(Patrick O'Connor)



Author: Raymond Vacchino M.Mus. (Classical Music Critic)"