The music of the Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky (1895–1968) is familiar in his home country but sorely neglected abroad. Lyatoshynsky’s songs are neglected even there: this anthology of his best romances for low voice and piano contains many first recordings.

The songs meld intense Scriabinesque expressionism with elements of Ukrainian folksong in a language that embraces both the lyrical and the dramatic. His setting of Shelley’s Ozymandias, with its warning of the impermanence of power, was a brave act in the Soviet Union of 1924.

The booklet contains full sung texts, with English translations by Russian-music expert Anthony Phillips, who also provides an extensive introduction to Lyatoshynsky, his songs and his artistic milieu.

Ukrainian-born Vassily Savenko completed his vocal studies at the Moscow Conservatory. He won both the Mussorgsky and Lysenko Competitions and has sung principal roles for major opera houses in his native Ukraine and in Russia, including the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow and the Kirov Opera, St Petersburg, where he sang Iago (Otello) under Valery Gergiev.

In the early 1990s Vassily Savenko moved to Britain where his debut at the Wigmore Hall launched the showcase vocal series ‘Russian Images’. He and Alexander Blok have already released Russian Settings of Robert Burns on Toccata Classics (TOCC0039).