Dmitri Hvorostovsky - The Bells of Dawn: Russian Sacred and Folk Songs (2014)
Dmitri Hvorostovsky - The Bells of Dawn: Russian Sacred and Folk Songs (2014)
The Grand Choir ‘Masters of Choral Singing’, conducted by Lev Kontorovich
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 258 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 150 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical, Vocal, Sacred | Label: Ondine | # ODE 1238-2 | Time: 01:04:27
The Grand Choir ‘Masters of Choral Singing’, conducted by Lev Kontorovich
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 258 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 150 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical, Vocal, Sacred | Label: Ondine | # ODE 1238-2 | Time: 01:04:27
Ondine’s third release with the star baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky is devoted to sacred works by Russian composers and Russian folk songs. Hvorostovsky is accompanied by the prestigious Russian Grand Choir “Masters of Choral Singing,” conducted by Lev Kontorovich, a choir that keeps up the best traditions of Russian choral singing.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky - The Bells of Dawn: Russian Sacred and Folk Songs (2014)
Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s new disc explores two potent strands of Russia’s musical fabric, folksong and Orthodox Church anthems, separated in this programme by the well-known song ‘A snowstorm sweeps the street’ by Alexander Varlamov and ending with Georgy Sviridov’s Pushkin setting ‘The Bells of Dawn’, from which the recording takes its title. The singing here, backed by the rich sonorities of The Grand Choir ‘Masters of Choral Singing’, is more sophisticated than you might expect to hear in your average Russian church on a Sunday morning but Hvorostovsky does not over-egg it. In the characteristically lush harmonies of Pavel Chesnokov’s anthems, Hvorostovsky strikes a note of artless sincerity, matching the choir in mellifluousness, control of melodic line and in unaffected expressiveness.
Here and in works by Dobri Khristov, Mikhail Burmagin and Alexander Arkhangelsky, the overwhelming impression is that the music is close to Hvorostovsky’s heart, its dramatic impact directed at a higher power than the mere operatic stage. The lovely Varlamov song, arranged for soloist and mixed choir by the conductor Lev Kontorovich, acts as a bridge to the disc’s folk component. Here Hvorostovsky is equally in his element, finding the spontaneity of phrasing and the subtle inflections of joy and sadness (mainly sadness) that these timeless narratives embrace: the three songs that Hvorostovsky sings without the chorus are especially telling of his interpretative intensity and sensibility. ‘The Bells of Dawn’ by Sviridov, whose Esenin cycle Russia Cast Adrift Hvorostovsky memorably recorded in the 1990s, makes for a poignantly nostalgic envoi.Review by Geoffrey Norris, Gramophone
I have been listening with pleasure to Dmitri Hvorostovsky, live and in recordings, since he won “Cardiff Singer of the World” twenty-five years ago. I have also been wondering whether his beautiful voice was beginning to develop some slight rockiness under pressure. However, on the evidence of this third and latest recording for Ondine, he is still in tremendous shape. Yes, the voice is not quite as big live as this recording makes it and he is clearly occasionally slightly forcing on the highest, loudest notes but that only adds to the excitement of this recital, which is really something of a tour de force.
It was perhaps a wise move to divide the programme here between liturgical chants and traditional Russian folk songs. It provides a balance to and relief from the spiritual intensity of the sacred music, allowing a different kind of sentiment to be presented. The piece which gives the album its title was written by lyrical neo-romantic Soviet composer Georgy Sviridov to words by Pushkin but the bulk of these songs are from the nineteenth century. They were evidently chosen as vehicles to exhibit the smooth beauty of Hvorostovsky’s high baritone but the contribution of his superb specialist backing choir cannot be overlooked. They have the famous basses, the plaintive tenors and the strong female voices required. The block harmonies are perfectly in tune and they maintain evenness of line without a trace of Slavic wobble.
In keeping with Russian liturgical practice, everything here is sung a cappella. The highlight is Hvorostovsky’s unaccompanied solo singing of “Oh, Night” (track 15), where his sustained legato, power on the top G of “Da i to so moy” and concluding pianissimo E flat are all stunning. He adapts his style from a stern, hieratic aloofness in the chants to a more “folksy”, expressive manner in the popular songs. He even introduces little yodelling catches in his delivery and abandons all restraint in order to capture the rawness of the songs' emotions. My only concern is that he occasionally makes such audible gasps when breathing; that can be disconcerting.
Thus we move full circle in this recital from the hypnotic, mantra-like strophic chants with their repetitions of “Aliluiya” and “Raduysya” (“Rejoice”) to their secular counterpart in the mimicking by two sopranos of swinging bells. These chime above the vocal lines of baritone and choir and the effect is haunting and mesmerising.
This is a wonderful album — manna for admirers of the Russian sacred and folk vocal traditions.Review by Ralph Moore, MusicWeb-International.com
Dmitri Hvorostovsky - The Bells of Dawn: Russian Sacred and Folk Songs (2014)
Tracklist:
Dobri Hristov (1875–1941):
01. Praise the Name of the Lord (03:40)
Pavel Chesnokov (1877–1944):
02. Blessed is the Man (03:31)
03. Pre-Eternal Counsel (02:48)
04. Let My Prayer (07:19)
05. From My Youth (02:46)
Mikhail Burmagin:
06. The Wise Thief (02:28)
Aleksandr Arkhangelsky (1846–1924):
07. Symbol of Faith (05:36)
Aleksandr Varlamov (1801–1848):
08. A Snowstorm Sweeps the Street (02:40)
09. Russian folk song: They Do Not Let Masha… (03:41)
10. Russian folk song: There Is Not One Path Through the Field (03:28)
11. Russian folk song: The Lonely Coach Bell (04:35)
12. Russian folk song: Farewell, My Joy (03:21)
13. Russian folk song: The Fog Has Fallen Onto the Field (03:46)
Elizaveta Shashina (1805–1903):
14. I Walk My Path Alone (04:58)
15. Russian folk song: Oh, Night (04:32)
Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998):
16. The Bells of Dawn (05:09)
Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015
EAC extraction logfile from 20. August 2015, 21:39
Dmitri Hvorostovsky ,The Grand Choir 'Masters of Choral Singing', Lev Kontorovich / The Bells of Dawn
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==== Log checksum CF7A470274137D3E7E37870EC55394FF8A2D0559E37E159C710353FBE5E428AE ====
EAC extraction logfile from 20. August 2015, 21:39
Dmitri Hvorostovsky ,The Grand Choir 'Masters of Choral Singing', Lev Kontorovich / The Bells of Dawn
Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:40.58 | 0 | 16557
2 | 3:40.58 | 3:31.18 | 16558 | 32400
3 | 7:12.01 | 2:48.61 | 32401 | 45061
4 | 10:00.62 | 7:19.36 | 45062 | 78022
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6 | 20:07.21 | 2:28.15 | 90546 | 101660
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9 | 30:53.30 | 3:41.47 | 139005 | 155626
10 | 34:35.02 | 3:28.61 | 155627 | 171287
11 | 38:03.63 | 4:35.35 | 171288 | 191947
12 | 42:39.23 | 3:21.31 | 191948 | 207053
13 | 46:00.54 | 3:46.11 | 207054 | 224014
14 | 49:46.65 | 4:58.44 | 224015 | 246408
15 | 54:45.34 | 4:32.49 | 246409 | 266857
16 | 59:18.08 | 5:09.40 | 266858 | 290072
Range status and errors
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Filename C:\temp\The Bells of Dawn - Hvorostovsky\The Bells of Dawn.wav
Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
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Test CRC 808D35D5
Copy CRC 808D35D5
Copy OK
No errors occurred
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==== Log checksum CF7A470274137D3E7E37870EC55394FF8A2D0559E37E159C710353FBE5E428AE ====
foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-05-31 14:19:22
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Dmitri Hvorostovsky, The Grand Choir 'Masters of Choral Singing', Lev Kontorovich / The Bells of Dawn
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -0.76 dB -19.94 dB 3:41 01-Dobri Hristov: Praise the Name of the Lord
DR13 -0.50 dB -19.64 dB 3:31 02-Pavel Chesnokov: Blessed is the Man
DR13 -4.16 dB -22.70 dB 2:49 03-Pavel Chesnokov: Pre-Eternal Counsel
DR16 -0.62 dB -23.84 dB 7:19 04-Pavel Chesnokov: Let My Prayer
DR13 -0.51 dB -17.86 dB 2:47 05-Pavel Chesnokov: From My Youth
DR13 -0.69 dB -18.98 dB 2:28 06-Mikhail Burmagin: The Wise Thief
DR12 -0.50 dB -17.51 dB 5:37 07-Aleksandr Arkhangelsky: Symbol of Faith
DR12 -0.50 dB -17.21 dB 2:41 08-Aleksandr Varlamov: A Snowstorm Sweeps the Street
DR13 -5.31 dB -24.05 dB 3:42 09-Russian folk song: They Do Not Let Masha…
DR13 -1.22 dB -20.56 dB 3:29 10-Russian folk song: There Is Not One Path Through the Field
DR13 -5.28 dB -23.58 dB 4:35 11-Russian folk song: The Lonely Coach Bell
DR12 -4.73 dB -23.58 dB 3:21 12-Russian folk song: Farewell, My Joy
DR13 -0.65 dB -19.02 dB 3:46 13-Russian folk song: The Fog Has Fallen Onto the Field
DR14 -1.61 dB -20.64 dB 4:59 14-Elizaveta Shashina: I Walk My Path Alone
DR13 -0.58 dB -20.25 dB 4:33 15-Russian folk song: Oh, Night
DR13 -4.17 dB -24.58 dB 5:10 16-Georgy Sviridov: The Bells of Dawn
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
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Official DR value: DR13
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Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
log date: 2016-05-31 14:19:22
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Dmitri Hvorostovsky, The Grand Choir 'Masters of Choral Singing', Lev Kontorovich / The Bells of Dawn
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -0.76 dB -19.94 dB 3:41 01-Dobri Hristov: Praise the Name of the Lord
DR13 -0.50 dB -19.64 dB 3:31 02-Pavel Chesnokov: Blessed is the Man
DR13 -4.16 dB -22.70 dB 2:49 03-Pavel Chesnokov: Pre-Eternal Counsel
DR16 -0.62 dB -23.84 dB 7:19 04-Pavel Chesnokov: Let My Prayer
DR13 -0.51 dB -17.86 dB 2:47 05-Pavel Chesnokov: From My Youth
DR13 -0.69 dB -18.98 dB 2:28 06-Mikhail Burmagin: The Wise Thief
DR12 -0.50 dB -17.51 dB 5:37 07-Aleksandr Arkhangelsky: Symbol of Faith
DR12 -0.50 dB -17.21 dB 2:41 08-Aleksandr Varlamov: A Snowstorm Sweeps the Street
DR13 -5.31 dB -24.05 dB 3:42 09-Russian folk song: They Do Not Let Masha…
DR13 -1.22 dB -20.56 dB 3:29 10-Russian folk song: There Is Not One Path Through the Field
DR13 -5.28 dB -23.58 dB 4:35 11-Russian folk song: The Lonely Coach Bell
DR12 -4.73 dB -23.58 dB 3:21 12-Russian folk song: Farewell, My Joy
DR13 -0.65 dB -19.02 dB 3:46 13-Russian folk song: The Fog Has Fallen Onto the Field
DR14 -1.61 dB -20.64 dB 4:59 14-Elizaveta Shashina: I Walk My Path Alone
DR13 -0.58 dB -20.25 dB 4:33 15-Russian folk song: Oh, Night
DR13 -4.17 dB -24.58 dB 5:10 16-Georgy Sviridov: The Bells of Dawn
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR13
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 556 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
Dmitri Hvorostovsky - The Bells of Dawn: Russian Sacred and Folk Songs (2014)
