Product Description

Born in Stockholm on 7 May 1927 to a Russian mother and Swedish father, S derstr m she was a talented recitalist, as much in demand in the concert hall as she was in the opera theatre. From 1991-96 she also directed the Drottingholm Festival Opera with much success. The two LPs of Tchaikovsky songs were issued in part by Decca on CD and this is their first complete release in this format. Overshadowed by his orchestral works, they are nonetheless absolute gems, with their piano parts of almost orchestral scope. Ashkenazy's is, too, the disembodied voice that speaks a few of Pushkin's lines in the early setting of Zemfira's song. 'S derstr m came to be known internationally in the late 1950s,' wrote John Steane, 'and over the next three decades, on until her retirement from singing in the early 1990s she never "blotted her copybook". She neither sought nor won cheap success.' S derstr m passed away in Stockholm on 20 November 2009, aged 82, from complications from a stroke. This release marks the launch of an Eloquence series of notable recitals of songs and opera arias by some of the great voices of Decca and Deutsche Grammophon. 'The Maikov Lullaby is enchantingly done, especially with the gentle wash of piano tone in the background from Ashkenazy. A delightful, excellently recorded recital of some songs which we know too little. Tchaikovsky wrote some exquisite songs; and it is splendid to have them being explored so skilfully, intelligently and sensitively' Gramophone.