GEORGY SVIRIDOV (1915-1998): Russia Cast Adrift (orch. Evgeny Stetsyuk).

Catalogue Number: 06S066
Label: Delos
Reference: DE 161
Format: CD
Price: $9.98
Description: Sviridov's richly Romantic, heartfelt song cycle to poems of Sergei Yesenin is powerfully evocative of themes important to both poet and composer; love for the landscape and history of Mother Russia, images of nature and religious symbolism in the face of the uncertainty that faced the country when the Soviet Union was rising around the time when the poems were written. This is one of Sviridov's finest vocal works, full of flowing melody and archetypally Russian melancholy. He intended to orchestrate it, but this never materialized; however, the piano parts constantly suggest orchestral colors and Evgeny Stetsyuk's orchestration fully realizes them. The orchestration is sumptuous and respectful of the composer's musical intentions, and the incorporation of folk instruments adds appropriate local color. Transliterated Russian-English texts. Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone), St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Style of Five Ensemble; Constantine Orbelian.