Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Bells, symphonic poem
Soloists: Mlada Khudoley (soprano), Sergei Semishkur (tenor) and Yevgeny Nikitin (baritone)
Sergei Prokofiev. Alexander Nevsky, cantata
Soloist: Olga Borodina (mezzo-soprano)
Mariinsky Theatre Chorus and Symphony Orchestra
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
The poem The Bells for mixed chorus, three soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone) and orchestra was completed by Rachmaninoff in 1913. Interestingly, Rachmaninoff had initially planned to compose a symphony, but it so happened that at the time he received an anonymous letter with a request to read Balmont’s translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem which was attached to the letter and which, the letter stated, was eminently suitable for music and should be of interest to the composer. The name of the letter’s author only became known after Rachmaninoff’s death – it was the cellist Mikhail Bukinik’s student Maria Danilova.
The cantata Alexander Nevsky was composed on the basis of music for the eponymous film by Sergei Eisenstein which was released in 1938. The exceptional success that accompanied the film, comparable to that of Chapaev, allowed Prokofiev to create a work independent from the film music and take it to the stage of the concert hall, changing almost nothing in it apart from several details of the orchestration.
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