March 29, 2005
SHOSTAKOVICH COMPLETE SONGS VOLUME FIVE
New Releases
SHOSTAKOVICH Complete Songs, Vol. 5 - Famous Vocal Cycles (DE 3317)
With the issuance of this CD, Volume 5 of the Shostakovich Complete Song series, Delos has fulfilled its promise to release this historic edition, five plus hours containing all of Shostakovich's extensive song literature, well recorded, well sung and extensively annotated.
Under the authoritative direction of Yuri Serov, pianist and editor, many outstanding soloists have participated in probing the depths of Shostakovich's offerings, light and dark, profound and frivolous, personal and political. On Volume Five these include mezzo-soprano Marianna Tarassova, tenor Konstantin Pluzhnikov, and bass Fyodor Kuznetsov, all heard on previous volumes, and one new artist: soprano Svetlana Sumatchova.
The two great vocal cycles on this Volume 5 CD make for a fitting conclusion to the entire project. From Jewish Folk Poetry, a vocal cycle, Op. 79 (1948), in eleven songs exemplifies Shostakovich in the middle of his career, identifying musically, almost uncannily, with the folk texts and highly emotional content.
Suite to words by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Op. 145 (1974), one of the composer's final works, is an eleven-song conversation between two geniuses, somber, eloquent, musing on the meaning of life, death and eternity. The bass voice of Fyodor Kuznetsov is the interpreter of this cycle as he also sings a "finis" to the entire Shostakovich five-volume series.