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CD Review

Serge Prokofieff

Complete Songs

• Green Jar (folksong)
• To My Homeland
• 2 Poems, Op. 9
• Ugly Duckling, Op. 18
• 5 Poems of Konstantin Bal'mont, Op. 23
• 5 Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27
• 5 Songs without Words, Op. 35
• 5 Poems of Konstantin Balmont, Op. 36
• 2 Choruses, Op. 66a
• 4 Songs, Op. 66b
• 3 Children's Songs, Op. 68
• 3 Romances, Op. 73
• Song of Our Times, for mezzo-soprano, baritone & piano, Op. 76
• 7 Songs, Op. 79
• 7 Songs, Op. 89
• 12 Russian Folksongs, Op. 104
• 2 Duets for tenor, baritone & piano, Op. 106
• Soldiers' Marching Song, Op. 121

Victoria Yevtodieva, soprano
Lyubov Sokolova, mezzo-soprano
Konstantin Pluzhnikov, tenor
Andréi Slavny, baritone
Sergei Aleksashkin, bass
Yuri Serov, piano
Delos DE3275 3CDs: 77:06; 75:59; 78:36

Put simply, this is one of the most important song recordings in recent years. It's important not simply because it's the first such collection of Prokofieff's complete output in the genre, but because the performances are uniformly excellent. Each of the five singers is simply superb. That they are so effective in repertory of such high quality makes this CD set a high priority on the list of anyone interested in 20^th-century vocal music.

Prokofieff's operas, thanks mainly to Valery Gergiev, have now received some much-deserved attention. But his seventy-plus songs are still largely neglected. At least until now. This CD set contains all of his original efforts with the exception of the five Kazakh songs of 1927, which were never published. Actually, they could well have been included since they are available in manuscript form, but then doing so would have necessitated a fourth disc and a higher asking price. They'll appear soon on another disc anyway – so why fret?

Here, we have seventy-two songs, most of inspired creation and a good many of masterful quality. If there is a more arrestingly serene song than Green Jar (track 11; disc 1), I haven't heard it. Actually, it's an arrangement of a traditional Russian song, but what Prokofieff does to it – and with all arrangements here – clearly makes it his own. Other gems on the first disc include the leadoff item, The Ugly Duckling, drawn on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, and, from the Op. 104 set of arrangements of Russian songs, The Monk (track 6), whose joyful theme was reused by Prokofieff in The Stone Flower ballet. Green Grove (track 7), also recycled by Prokofieff, this time in his opera The Story of a Real Man, is gloomy and beautiful, full of color and with an unforgettable melody. The Seven Songs, Op. 79, and the Three Children's Songs, Op. 68, close out this disc and also contain many charming offerings.

Disc two leads off with Two Poems, Op. 9, written when Prokofieff was still a conservatory student. Yet, the music sounds remarkably mature, in places like late Prokofieff even. The Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, that follow are also high quality items, despite their brevity. The third, Memory of the Sun (track 5) and last, The Grey-Eyed King (track 7), are personal favorites here. More arrangements are featured on the second disc from the Op. 104 collection, namely Dunyushka (track 14), another piece whose lively theme Prokofieff reused in The Stone Flower. Here the treatment is more subtle and actually milks a certain depth from the material. While I'm on the subject of recycling again, I should point out that the second item from the Op. 66 collection of six songs (track 18), Anyutka, was used a second time in The Story of a Real Man, but featuring much the same mood and with the same text.

The third disc begins with Prokofieff's longest original song collection, The Five Poems, Op. 23. The whole set clocks in at about twenty-seven minutes; but it's not just quantity here that is noteworthy, it's the consistent quality, a good portion of which went into the first and longest song in the group, From Under the Roof, on texts by Valentin Goryansky. The Five Songs Without Words that follow, were later transcribed for violin and piano, and in that guise they have been heard far more often than in vocal form. They are examples of high art in either version, but are preferable in their original guise when, as is the case here, they are sung by a sensitive artist with a beautiful voice. In these five challenging pieces, all rests on vocal beauty, nothing on text or on the dramatic ability to deliver it. This is pure singing – pure singing – and beautiful it is. The Songs of Our Days and the final four entries from the Op. 104 arrangements follow, both sets containing attractive items within generally light moods.

As I said at the outset, the singing throughout is excellent. Victoria Yevtodieva is simply stunning, whether in The Ugly Duckling or in The Five Songs Without Words. Sergei Aleksashkin is splendid as well, especially in The Green Jar. But pianist Yuri Serov must also be given more credit than is usually acknowledged for an accompanist. He assembled the collection and arranged the order of the songs on the recordings – no simple task, I can guaranty, and he did it with imagination and logic. I also suspect from tempo choices and other factors that he was a strong influence in the songs' interpretations throughout the set. The sound is excellent and the notes informative. Full texts are included. Kudos to Delos for releasing this set, taped in St. Petersburg, from September through December, 1995. Highest recommendations!

Copyright © 2001, Robert Cummings