[.ca] Songsebut Series

Excellent debut recital:
This is an excellent recital, with Gergiev's sister on the piano. Shtoda seems on the way to becoming a big name opera star. The only reason that this gets 4 stars not 5 is that EMI chose to issue the original red and white 'Debut Series' release without texts or translations, something later remedied with a new cover (featuring Shtoda in an ethereal grey photo), but with the same catalogue number. Anyone wanting a better documented introduction to Russian song might be better off with the Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky or Glinka discs by mezzo Lina Mkrtchyan on Opus111 (cyrillic script), or the 'Russian Romance' series by tenor Larin on Chandos (cyrillic again), or the 'Russian Images' recitals by bass Savenko on Hyperion (romanized script).

Disappointing Debut Disc:
The body of work performed on this disc comes from the pen of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. The overall impression I got was one of non-commitment to the feeling of the music infact an inability to enter the composers emotional world. As we know a true interpretatation of Tchaikovsky's music cannot be feigned it must come from the inner most self. Shoda has brought off the shorter numbers of Cui and Rimsky with beautiful tonal colouring and expressiveness but fails to deliver the goods with the highly emotive Tchaikovsky songs. His 'Midst the din of the ball' a classic number falls completely flat with little regard to expressive detail and phrasing. It would pay him to listen to Nikolai Gedda's incomparable versions and learn from them. Also both the accompanist and soloist unduly distort the tempos in Tchaikovsky's 'It was in early spring'-distracting and unnecessary. His voice lacks tonal colour. For a more mature reading listen to Sergei Larin.

• Serenade, Op.63 No.6
• The Nightingale, Op.60 No.4
• Amid The Din Of The Ball, Op.38 No.3
• Again, As Before, Alone, Op.73 No.6
• Night, Op.60 No.9
• I Should Like In A Single Word, Op.26 No.1
• It Was In The Early Spring, Op.38 No.2
• Why?, Op.6 No.5
• Whether Day Reigns, Op.47 No.6
• Embrace Me And Kiss Me!
• Spanish Song
• The Octave, Op.45 No.3
• The Fleeting Bank Of Cloud Is Dispersing, Op.42 No.3
• The Rose And The Nightingale, Op.2 No.2
• Of What In The Silence Of The Night, Op.40 No.3
• The Nymph, Op.56 No.1
• The Burnt Letter, Op.33 No.4
• The Statue In Tsarskoye Selo, Op.57 No.17
• I Loved You, Op.33 No.3
• Do You Remember That Evening?
• Lilacs, Op.21 No.5
• They Answered, Op.21 No.4
• Before My Window, Op.26 No.10
• Sing Not To Me, Fair Maiden, Op.4 No.4
• Fragment From De Musset: Loneliness, Op.21 No.6