Tchaikovsky: Romances

Third release on ONYX from young Dutch mezzo and rising star Christianne Stotijn.

This beautiful collection of 20 Tchaikovsky songs represents the whole range of his creative life from his first performed composition “My Genius, My angel, my friend,” written when we was 16, through to the last published song from the year of his death “Again, as before, alone”. Includes favourites such as “None but the Lonely Heart” and “Why?” but also rarely heard songs such as “Mild Stars Looked down”, “The Cuckoo” and “The Gypsy Song”

Christianne learnt Russian especially for this recording and toured it widely before recording it with her superb pianist Julius Drake. This recording should do much to re-evaluate Tchaikovsky as one of the greatest composers of song and not just a writer of pretty tunes.

Both Christianne’s previous recitals earned rave reviews: “a really exciting event” (Gramophone); The most impressive debut disc since Bryn Terfel was a lad (***** Classic FM magazine); Vocal Recording of the Month ***** (BBC Music Magazine) (ONYX4009) “astonishing sophistication “ ***** BBC Magazine “One of my recordings of the year” (Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph) (ONYX4014)

Christianne was recently a BBC Young Generation Artist and has had London dates with Haitink (Mahler 2) and Das Lied von der Erde with Budapest FO/Ivan Fischer. Forthcoming highlights include Covent Garden debut (title role) in Tamerlano and Handel’s Jephthe with Paul McCreesh

"Among young mezzo-sopranos, Christianne Stotijn is in a class apart; she stamps every note and word with character, and delivers her songs with a lyrical glow that considerably advances global warming.

This Tchaikovsky selection rolls happily through plangent love dramas and comic folk tales, through Tolstoy poems and Goethe too. Whatever the song, Stotijn sings from the heart to the heart. Praise too for Julius Drake, a deft piano accompanist." ****

Geoff Brown

The Times - 16 January 2009

"For anyone reared on his symphonies and concertos, the quality and quantity of Tchaikovsky’s songs can come as a surprise. Many sound like operatic scenes, in which the yearning romanticism of the poetry is distilled through the composer’s poignant imagination and melodic genius. Stotijn, deftly accompanied by Julius Drake, proves a winning guide, always keeping the emotion under wraps while indicating there is a pumping heart beneath the surface. Her selection of 20 songs ranges from the popular "None but the lonely heart" to the turbulent undertow of "Reconciliation", the tender nostalgia of "Mild stars looked down" and the folksy lilt of "Had I only known"." ****

Andrew Clark

Financial Times - 16 January 2009

" ...this disc can be highly recommended." ****

Hugo Shirley

Musical Criticism.com - 12 December 2009

"Christianne Stotijn is that artist in a thousand whose personality shines through in everything she does...Stotijn’s charisma and her beautifully recorded altoish depth of tone are enough to hold me spellbound." *****

David Nice

BBC Music Magazine - March 2009

- Editor’s Choice -

"An album to remind one of the treasures of Russian song. Remember that wonderful Sergei Leiferkus Mussorgsky song series? But I digress. The ever more impressive Christianne Stotijn invests this marvellous collection with intelligence and refulgent tone, even managing to sound idiomatic (well, to my non-Russian ears). She is well matched by Julius Drake. A real pleasure. [James Inverne]

Stotijn loses nothing in comparison with ghosts from the past. Her voice is a full-blooded mezzo but steady and true, without a hint of that vibrato that can often disturb the line in Slavonic singers....the piano parts are superbly done: in every sense these songs are duets...Tchaikovsky’s songs are not nearly well enough known and this superb recital should enourage more interest in them. A second volume, please, and soon! Highly recommended."

Patrick O’Connor

Gramophone - February 2009

- CD of the Month -

"Bewitching" *****

Classic FM Magazine - April 2009

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Tchaikovsky: Romances

Christianne Stotjin

Julius Drake

Champs Hill, Sussex

Simon Kiln

Paul Moseley

Simon Kiln

Vocal & Song

PETER IL'YICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Sret' shumnava bala: At the Ball, Op. 38 No. 3

Net, tol'ka tot, kto znal: None but the lonely heart, Op. 6 No. 6

Kak nad garjacheju zaloj: Over burning ashes, Op. 25 No. 2

Moj genij, moj angel, moj druk!: My genius, my angel, my friend!

Kolybel'naja pesnja: Lullaby, Op. 16 No. 1

Primiren'je: Reconciliation, Op. 25 No. 1

Zakatilas' sontse: The sun has set, Op. 73 No. 4

Strashnaja minuta: The Fearful Moment, Op. 28 No. 6

Nam zvjozdy krotkije sijali: Mild stars looked down, Op. 60 No. 12

Kaby znala ja: Had I only known, Op. 47 No. 1

Uzh gasli f komnatakh agni: The lights were being dimmed, Op. 63 No. 5

Ni slova, o druk moj: Not a word my friend< Op. 6 No. 2

Atchevo?: Why?, Op. 6 No. 5

Ja li f pole da ne travushka byla: The Bride's Lament, Op. 47 No. 7

Presn' Cyganki: The Gypsy Song, Op. 60 No. 7

Ne ver', moj druk: Do not believe, my friend, Op. 6 No. 1

To byla ranneju vesnoj: It was in early spring, Op. 38 No. 2

Kukushka: Cuckoo, Op. 54 No. 8

Den' li tsarit: Can it be day?: Op. 47 No. 6

Snova, kak prezhde, adin: Again, as before, alone, Op. 73 No. 6