Time 19:00
The Palace on the Isle in the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw
Whether it is because of the singular melodiousness of the language or because of the distinctive Eastern musicality, the vocal works of Russian composers have an extraordinary charm. The romances and songs of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff express great longings and hopes as well as disappointment and despair.
The program opens with two compositions by Pyotr Tchaikovsky – the author of over a hundred songs. Ja li v pole travushka bila tells a story of a young girl who, against her will, gets married to a much older man. As in the lullaby from Op. 16, the melody perfectly captures the spirit of the poem. Mussorgsky’s series Songs and Dances of Death has a different, yet no less poignant character. The protagonist of the four dramatic scenes is Death, who tears a child from his mother’s arms, kidnaps a young girl, dances with a peasant in the cold, and is the sole victor on the battlefield.
The concert ends with five works by Sergei Rachmaninoff – a student of Tchaikovsky, the last great representative of late Russian Romanticism. In his songs, the lyrical expression is reflected as much in the vocals as in the piano part. The words merge with the sound to finally become Music itself in Vocalise.
PROGRAM
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Songs
Ja li v pole da ne travushka bila op. 47 No. 7, lyrics Ivan Zakharovich Surikov
Kolybelnaya pesnya op. 16 No. 1, lyrics Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov
Modest Mussorgsky – Songs and Dances of Death (Piesni i plaski smierti), lyrics A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov
Lullaby (Kołybielnaja)
Serenade (Sierienada)
Trepak (Triepak)
The Field Marshal (Połkowodiec)
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Songs
Oni otwieczali op. 21 No. 4, lyrics Wiktor Hugo, transl. Lev Aleksandrovich Mei
Sirień op. 21 No. 5, lyrics Ekaterina Beketova
Zdies charaszo op. 21 No. 7, lyrics Glafira Galina
Son op. 8 No. 5, lyrics Heinrich Heine, transl. Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev
Vocalise op. 34 No. 14
PERFORMERS
JUSTYNA STĘPIEŃ SOPRANO
ROBERT GIERLACH BASS
DAGMARA DUDZIŃSKA GRAND PIANO