Delos: Dmitri Hvorostovsky — Moscow Nights, Orbelian (Audio CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Delos
• Artist: Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone)
• Conductor / Ensembles: Constantine Orbelian, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Style of Five
• Catalog Number: DE 3339
• UPC: 013491333922
• Release Year: 2005
• Genre: World / Vocal
• Style: Russian popular song, romance, easy-listening classical crossover

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Tracks: 17 (16 + special bonus track)
• Total runtime: 65:43
• Audio: DSD (Sony Direct Stream Digital), DDD
• Language: Sung in Russian
• Made in the USA
• Condition: Factory Sealed (New)

Overview

This is Hvorostovsky in a warmer, more popular mode — not opera, not art song, but the beloved Russian and Soviet songs of the twentieth century. The title track, "Moscow Nights" (Podmoskovnye vechera), is one of the most famous Russian melodies in the world, and the program around it is full of the tender, nostalgic numbers that every Russian household knows by heart.

It works because of who's singing. Hvorostovsky brings the full beauty of his operatic baritone to material that's usually heard from crooners, and the result is unexpectedly moving — "Wait for Me," "Tenderness," "I love you, life" delivered with real legato and no condescension. Constantine Orbelian and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra give it lush, tasteful arrangements, with the folk-instrument group Style of Five adding color.

These are songs about memory, longing and home, and the album leans into that mood without tipping into schmaltz. The DSD recording is rich and immediate. For anyone who loves the great Russian popular repertoire, or who wants to hear a world-class voice relax into songs it clearly cherishes, this is a deeply enjoyable disc.

Interesting Facts

• The title track, "Moscow Nights" (Podmoskovnye vechera), composed by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi in 1955, is among the most internationally recognized of all Russian songs.
• The album collects classic Russian and Soviet-era popular songs and romances rather than opera or art song.
• Style of Five, featured on the disc, is a Russian ensemble specializing in traditional folk instruments such as the balalaika and domra.
• Conductor Constantine Orbelian, an American of Armenian-Russian heritage, led the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and collaborated frequently with Hvorostovsky.
• The recording was made in Sony's DSD (Direct Stream Digital) format, prized by audiophiles for its smooth, analogue-like sound.
• A special bonus track, "Motherland Hears" (Rodina slyshit), closes the program — a song with a place in Soviet cultural memory.

Track Listing

1. Kak molody my byli • How young we were — 5:59
2. Podmoskovnye vechera • Moscow Nights — 3:54
3. Shum berioz • The whisper of birches — 4:21
4. Ne speshi • Do not hurry — 3:47
5. Nezhnost' • Tenderness — 2:56
6. Zhdi menia • Wait for me — 4:31
7. Tri goda • Three years — 3:21
8. Vechernaya pesnya • Evening song — 3:12
9. Ty moya melodiya • You are my melody — 4:57
10. Moskovskie okna • Moscow windows — 3:52
11. Kak mnogo devushek horoshih • There are so many pretty girls — 3:18
12. Blagodariu tebia • I'm grateful to you — 3:38
13. Ia liubliu tebia, zhizn' • I love you, life — 3:50
14. Vecher na reide • Evening in the harbor — 3:56
15. S chego nachinaetsia Rodina • Where does Motherland come from? — 2:41
16. Russkoe pole • Russian field — 3:54
17. Rodina slyshit • Motherland hears (special bonus track) — 3:35

Publishers

Released 2005 by Delos Productions, Inc., Sonoma, California. Recorded using Sony Direct Stream Digital. Made in the USA.

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