The Great Singers of Russia: Vol. 1 "From Chaliapin to Reizen".(Video Recording Review)

The Great Singers of Russia: Vol. 1 "From Chaliapin to Reizen"

With Barsova, Obukhova, Shpiller; Chaliapin, Kozlovsky, Lemeshev, Mikhailov, Lisitsian, Nelepp, Pirogov, Reizen. Commentary by Kazarnovskaya, Petrov, Dornemann. VAI DVD 4257 75 mins.

The Great Singers of Russia, Vol. 2 "From Petrov to Kazarnovskaya"

With Arkhipova, Borodina, Kasrashvili, Kazarnovskaya, Obraztsova, Rudenko, Vishnevskaya; Andzhaparidze, Atlantov, Hvorostovsky, Mazurok, Nesterenko, Petrov. VAI DVD 4258, 94 mins.

This look at Russian singers is not a bona fide documentary of the history of Russian singing, nor is it an in-depth examination of the singing itself. With its maddeningly incomplete repertoire descriptions (e.g., "Valeria Barsova sings a song in Russian" or "Ivan Kozlovsky silent screen test"), cut-off versions of opera arias and English-language narration by soprano Ljuba Kazarnovskaya, who apparently decided on an informal, unrehearsed approach to introducing these artists, it falls somewhere in between. Still, for anyone with an interest in these important singers, this collection is fascinating to watch.

The late bass Ivan Petrov provides Russian-language commentary (subtitled), and he can be heard briefly in Volume 2 in a Boris excerpt in which he displays impressive power and focus. Petrov is an endearing presence as commentator, comparing Mark Reizen ("more academical") and fellow bass Alexander Pirogov ("more temperamental")--characteristics borne out in the Aleko selection from Reizen, who has a beautiful lyric tone but hardly moves when he sings. Pirogov gives a riveting though slightly wobbly account of the Boris death scene. Maxim Mildrailov is seen in an awe-inspiring clip from Ivan the Terrible--a heroic, very low voice not to be missed. The great bass Pavel Lisitsian is heard in "Di provenza" from La Traviata--in Russian.

This brings up a recurring theme: until quite recently, all opera in Russia was routinely performed in Russian. Two great tenors who made their debuts in the 1920s, Ivan Kozlovsky and Sergei Lemeshev, sing most of their repertoire in Russian, including Kozlovsky's "La donna e mobile," in which he displays a spectacularly easy high range, a bright timbre and an interpolated high D. Lemeshev has a very rapid vibrato and a bit of a nasal quality, but in Lensky's aria he exhibits a beautiful pianissimo. Zurab Andzhaparidze, who sang at the Bolshoi during the 1960s, is heard in Volume 2 in "Questa o quella" (in Russian) and Gherman's narrative from Queen of Spades, boasting a tenor sound that is full from top to bottom, but he is less exciting than Kozlovsky or Lemeshev. Vladimir Atlantov, ubiquitous during the 1970s and '80s, displays decent Italian and a pleasing timbre in "Vesti la giubba," but his "Recondita armonia" from Tosca ...