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Shostakovich: Suite on Poems by Michelangelo; Liszt: Petrarca Sonnets

Liszt / Hvorostovsky,Dmitri / Ilja,Ivari Release Date: 11/13/2015
Label: Ondine Catalog #: 1277 Spars Code: DDD
Composer:  Dmitri Shostakovich ,  Franz Liszt Performer:  Dmitri Hvorostovsky ,  Ivari Ilja Number of Discs: 1



"There is something of the iron fist in a velvet glove to Hvorostovsky’s voice here, and that velvet thins just often enough to reveal the edge beneath. His baritone may now be a touch too craggy for Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets, but he and Ilja shape them stylishly, and in their warmth and relative sweetness they are a fitting foil for the Shostakovich."

-- Erica Jeal, The Guardian

"The final three tracks are devoted to Liszt’s glorious, opulently melodic Petrarch Sonnets... Pianist Ilja’s contribution is especially crucial in these songs, which require both virtuosity and expressive power of the highest order. Hvorostovsky and Read more Ilja’s rendition of the central section of Sonnet 104, one of the great melodies of the nineteenth century, is alone worth the price of listening."

-- Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News "Hvorostovsky offers searching readings of these rugged, jagged songs which are full of resignation and bittersweet regret, of loss and separation... There are few things finer than Hvorostovsky in full flight."

-- Mark Pullinger, Gramophone
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