Bolshoi: The Best of Melodiya

Firma Melodiya presents a unique set of recordings by soloists of the USSR Bolshoi Theatre – outstanding singers who performed on the main stage of this country during 1945 to 1990.

They don't call it the golden age of the Bolshoi for nothing! The first music theatre of the country attracted the undiverted attention of not just millions of spectators and listeners (getting a ticket to the Bolshoi was almost an impracticable task for a “common Soviet citizen”). The supreme leadership of the Soviet Union watched the life of the theatre as closely as real music lovers did. Nearly all the premieres took place under the sign of “special responsibility”. The theatre recruited the best artistic forces from all over the country.

Galina Vishnevskaya, Irina Arkhipova, Elena Obraztsova, Tamara Sinyavskaya, Sergey Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Vladimir Atlantov, Alexander Pirogov, Mark Reizen and Evgeny Nesterenko are just some of 30 soloists featured in this set.

They are accompanied by the Bolshoi Orchestra lead by various conductors such as Nikolai Golovanov, Samuil Samosud, Alexander Melik-Pashayev, Evgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Fayer, Mark Ermler, Alexander Lazarev and others. Each of them made a valuable contribution to the treasury of Russian music culture of the 20th century.

The set includes fragments from Russian classical opera and ballet repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, and some of the most popular foreign operas and ballets staged at the Bolshoi.

Artists:
CD 1
Mikhail Glinka
Ruslan and Ludmila
1. Overture 
2. Ludmila’s Cavatina 
3. Farlaf’s Scene and Rondo 
4. Chernomor’s March 

Alexander Dargomyzhsky
Rusalka
5. Miller’s Aria 'Oh, it’s just that all you young girls…' 
6. Prince’s Cavatina 

Nikolai Rimsky-­Korsakov
7. 'The Three Wonders' from 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan' 

Sadko
8. Introduction 'The Blue Ocean Sea'  
9. Song of the Varangian Guest 
10. Song of the Indian Guest 
11. Song of the Venetian Guest 
12.  Volkhova’s Lullaby

Alexander Glazunov
13. Grand adagio from the ballet 'Raymonda' 

Boris Asafiev
14. Adagio from the ballet 'The Flames of Paris'
15. Romance from the ballet 'The Fountain of Bakhchisarai' 


Total time: 74:20


B Rudenko  (soprano); B Morozov (bass); G Borisova  (mezzo-soprano); A Pirogov (bass); I Kozlovsky (tenor); M Reizen (bass); P Lisitsian (baritone); E Shumskaya  (soprano)

Conductors: Yu Simonov; V Nebolsin; E Svetlanov; N Golovanov; A Juraitis


Recorded: 1948 – 1978

CD 2
Modest Mussorgsky
1. Introduction 'Dawn on the Moskva River' from 'Khovanshchina'

Mikhail Glinka
Ivan Susanin
2. Vanya’s Aria 'How my mother was killed' 
3. Susanin’s Aria 'You will rise, my sun' 
4. Epilogue. Chorus 'May God bless you, my Rus!' 

Alexander Borodin
Prince Igor
5. Prince Igor’s Aria 'No sleep, no rest for my tormented soul' 
6. Polovtsian Dance with chorus 

Nikolai Rimsky­Korsakov
The Tsar’s Bride
7. Overture 
8. Lyubasha’s Song 

Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin
9. Letter Scene 
10. Lensky’s Aria 'Whither, oh whither are ye banished' 
11. Gremin’s Aria 'Love tyrannises all the ages' 
12. 'Dance of the Little Swans from the ballet 'Swan Lake' 
13. Pas de deux from the ballet 'The Nutcracker' 


Total time: 76:36


T Sinyavskaya  (mezzo-soprano); Е Nesterenko (bass); I Petrov (bass); I Arkhipova  (mezzo-soprano); G Vishnevskaya  (soprano); S Lemeshev (tenor); I Petrov (bass)


Conductors: B Khaikin; M Ermler; F Mansurov; Yu Fayer; G Rozhdestvensky


Recorded: 1950 – 1974

CD 3
Nikolai Rimsky­Korsakov
The Snow Maiden
1. The Birds Song and Dance 
2. The Snow Maiden’s Aria 'Picking up the forest berries with my friends' 

Anton Rubinstein
The Demon
3. Prince Sinodal’s Aria 
4. Demon’s second Romance 

Modest Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov
5. Varlaam’s Song 
6. Pimen’s Monologue 
7. Duet: Marina, Dmitry 'O Tsarevich, I implore you'   

Pyotr Tchaikovsky
8. Robert’s Arioso 'Who can compare with my Matilda?' from 'Iolanta' 
The Queen of Spades
9. Duet of Lisa and Pauline 'Already shades of night'
10. Lisa’s Scene and Arioso 'Twill soon be midnight now, and Herman not here' 
11. Herman’s Aria 'What is our life? A game!' 

Sergei Rachmaninov
12. Aleko’s Cavatina from 'Aleko' 

Aram Khachaturian
13. Spartacus and Phrygia’s Adagio from the ballet 'Spartacus' 

Sergei Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet
14. Juliet as a Young Girl 
15. Dance of the Knights 
16. Mercutio 
War and Peace
17. Scene 2. Waltz 
18. Scene 10. Kutuzov’s aria 'When all this dreadful affair comes to an end' 


Total time: 75:14


I Zhurina  (soprano); S Lemeshev (tenor); А Ognivtsev (bass); А Geleva (bass); M Mikhailov (bass); I Arkhipova  (mezzo-soprano); V Ivanovsky (tenor); А Voroshilo (baritone); Т Milashkina  (soprano); Z Andjaparidze (tenor); Yu Mazurok (baritone); А Vedernikov (bass)


Conductors: A Lazarev; A Melik-Pashaev; M Ermler; N Golovanov; B Khaikin; А Juraitis; G Rozhdestvensky


Recorded: 1948 – 1987

CD 4
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1. Leporello’s Aria (The Catalogue Aria) 'Madamina, il catalogo é questo from the Don Giovanni' 

Ludwig van Beethoven
Fidelio
2. Leonora’s Aria 'Scum! Where are you going? ... Come, hope, let the last star' 
3. Duet: Leonore, Florestan 'O unnamed joy!' 

Gaetano Donizetti
4. Leonora’s Aria 'O mio Fernando' from 'La Favorita' 

Adolphe Adam
Giselle
5. Introduction 
6. Act I. Waltz 

Ludwig Minkus
7. Kitri’s Variations from the ballet 'Don Quixote'  

Giuseppe Verdi
La Traviata
8. Act I. Duet: Violetta, Alfred 'Un dì, felice, eterea' 
9. Act III. Violetta’s Aria 'Addio del passato' 
Aida
10. Radames’ Aria 'Celeste Aida' 
11. Act I Aida’s Aria 'Ritorna Vincitor' 

Giacomo Puccini
12. Cio­Cio San’s Aria 'Sai cos’ebbe cuore di pensare quel signore?' from Madama Butterfly 
Tosca
13. Tosca’s Aria 'Vissi d’arte vissi d’amore'  
14. Cavaradossi’s Aria 'E lucevan le stelle' 

Ruggero Leoncavallo
15. Canio’s Aria 'Vesti la giubba' from 'Pagliacci' 


Total time: 67:05


Е Nesterenko (bass); G Vishnevskaya  (soprano); G Nelepp (tenor); I Arkhipova  (mezzo-soprano); S Lemeshev (tenor); V Atlantov (tenor); Т Milashkina  (soprano); М Bieshu  (soprano); М Kasrashvili  (soprano); Z Sotkilava (tenor); Z Andjaparidze (tenor)


Conductors: F Mansurov; М Ermler; А Melik-Pashaev; B Khaikin; А Kopylov; Yu Fayer


Recorded: 1911 – 1987

CD 5
Gioachino Rossini
The Barber of Seville
1. Almaviva’s Aria 'Ecco, ridente in cielo' 
2. Rosina’s Aria 'Una voce poco fa' 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
3. Cherubino’s Aria 'Voi che sapete' from 'The marriage of Figaro' 

Gaetano Donizetti
4. Nemorino’s Aria 'Una furtiva lagrima from 'The Elixir of Love' 

Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto
5. Chorus 'Zitti, zitti' 
6. Rigoletto’s Aria 'Cortigiani, vil razza dannata' 

Charles Gounod
Faust
7. Méphistophélès’ Song of the Golden Calf 
8. Soldiers’ Chorus 'Immortal glory of our ancestors' 

Camille Saint-­Saëns
9. Dalila’s Aria 'Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix' from 'Samson and Dalilah' 

Richard Wagner
10. Elisabeth’s Aria 'Dear hall, I greet thee once again from the Tannhäuser' 
11. Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin 

Giacomo Puccini
12. Calàf’s Aria 'Nessun dorma!' from 'Turandot'
13. Lauretta’s Aria 'O mio babbino caro! from 'Gianni Schicchi' 
14. Manon’s Aria 'Sola, perduta, abbandonata' from 'Manon Lescaut' 

Georges Bizet
Carmen
15. Carmen’s Habanera 
16. Toreador’s Song 'Your toast, I quite have the standing'

Total time: 63:12


S Lemeshev (tenor); V Firsova  (soprano); Arkhipova  (mezzo-soprano); Z Andjaparidze (tenor); A Ivanov (baritone); I Petrov (bass); Е Obraztsova  (mezzo-soprano); Е Shumskaya  (soprano); М Kasrashvili  (soprano); М Bieshu  (soprano); Yu Mazurok (baritone)


Conductors: S Samosud; B Khaikin; М Ermler; О Dimitriadi; А Melik-Pashaev; Yu Simonov


Recorded: 1953 – 1977