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Sun, 10 Dec 2006

Russian Album -Anna Netrebko

Anna Netrebko, various
Russian Album
Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre
Valery Gergiev
LP, Deutsche Grammophon

Here we have excerpts from works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Prokoviev. The orchestra is St. Petersburg's Mariinsky and the voice Anna Netrebko. Rather nice it is too even if excerpts are a dumbing-down that I don't particularly approve of. They do serve a purpose though and if they act like samplers then maybe people will be drawn in and investigate some of the works more fully.

As luck would have it, I'm listening to this in a hotel room in what used to be Russia - in the Ukraine. It's an awfully long way from here to St. Petersburg but there is much of the old Russia still here and those rich, long string lines that punctuate these Russian pieces speak of the Steppes (which are in this part) as well as they do of the lands of the north. (Baron K)

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