Russian Arias: Ewa Podles

I have been lucky enough to hear Podles live in Wagner's Ring and Rossini's Tancredi, and jumped at the chance to get this when I found it here. The famed contralto was in top form when these selections were recorded, from a blazing top down to a deep rich, unforced chest voice of great strength. Constantine Orbelian and the Philharmonia of Russia provide excellent support. The recorded sound is warm, rich and clear.There is a great range of material from classics of the Russian 19th century by Borodin, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky (the powerful Songs and Dances of death) to 20th century works by Stravinsky (an awe-inspiring rendition of Jocasta's aria from Oedipus Rex),Prokofiev (the serenely beautiful elegy from the Alexander Nevsky film score, hauntingly sung), and lively comic/romantic materialfrom Rodion Shchedrin's opera Not for Love Alone (1961). The only problem with this CD is that it could easily have contained 15 to 18 more minutes of this superb singer's work (to hear her do the Old Countess's solo scene from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades!), but the 60 minutes that we do have here is treasurable.

The first time I heard Ewa Podles was in a live performance of Verdi's "Requiem". After that I've been buying all her records and trying to hear her live. I still don't understand how she is still ignored by the major record companies...This CD of russian arias could not be rated less than extraordinary: if the voice itself wasn't enough - and it is more than enough - the interpretation would.

For some resn, this disc is strangely unappealing. The voice is of course great, but when she made this record, she was rather short on communication, an just seems like a reading of rather dull music. I would pass

I am a fully paid up member of the Eva Podleś fan club; at the first husky whisper of her stupendously dark and sultry contralto I go weak at the knees; the woman has the voice of an Olympian goddess, a Cumaean Sibyl, a Delphic priestess - and she is totally dedicated to her art, so you never feel that she is grandstanding.This a stunning collection of the best Russian arias and songs recorded in 2001 in the singer's prime; how one reviewer can describe it as "strangely unappealing" completely baffles me. Here is the wild, desperate sadness of the Russian soul transmuted by the alchemy of music into something beautiful and strange.There isn't another contralto voice like it around today and the last of comparable power and brilliance will be found amongst the likes of Schumann-Heink, Louise Homer, Dame Clara Butt and Jeanne Gerville-Réache. Her range, both in vocal terms (more than three octaves) and of repertoire (from Baroque to Rossini to Shostakovich), mark her out as a true vocal phenomenon.All the tracks here are extraordinarily impressive but my favourite is the haunting aria "The Field of the Dead" from Prokofiev's great cantata "Alexander Nevsky". The Shchedrin is the most unusual item here: alternately weird, chilling and blackly humorous, it provides a real vocal work-out for Podleś's special gifts. In many ways, however, the real tour de force here is Mussorgsky's four "Songs and Dances of Death"; Podleś’s ability to colour her voice and encompass the different vocal characterisations of Death, who sings in all four songs to the mother of the sick child, to the dying consumptive girl, to the drunk peasant and as Field Marshall to the dead amid the carnage of the battlefield.She is ably accompanied by Constantin Orbelian,who seems for some time to have been the go-to conductor by operatic artists making important recital albums; he has also supported Radvanovsky, Hvorostovsky (frequently), Brownlee, Spyres, Gorchakova and Gerello. His direction here is exemplary and the sound superb. A libretto - essential for appreciation of Mussorgsky's songs in particular - is provided.

There is simply NO BETTER recording of "Songs and Dances of Death" by Mussorgsky. Ewa Podles voice in Lullaby makes your blood freeze in your veins; her interpretation of Death is terribly beautiful. It adds to the effect knowing that in Russian "death" is a feminine word, contrary to Latin languages, so a female voice singing for both the Mother and Death is stunning.One can compare this with also a very good recording by Sergei Leiferkus or a much worse one by Brigitte Fassbaender. Alas, Russian cannot be sung properly by those who are not linked to that language, and since Ewa Podles is Polish, her pronunciation is as good as Russian. And her voice caps it all; she is a stunning, amazing diva; the adulation she receives fro her unique range and beauty of her tone, mastery of her tuning is well-demonstrated by this opus.Truly this is the best "Songs and Dances"; HIGHLY recommended for Russian music lovers.

This disc is altogether delectable. With few exceptions, Russian opera is little known or appreciated in this country. Perhaps, if it always had interpreters as stupendously capable as Ewa Podles, the story might be different. She is a true contralto, and, as such, more than capable of bringing appropriate power, flexibility and idiomatic darkness to these largely unfamiliar arias. Even more impressively, she uses her magnificent talent to get inside the character of each piece. The result is a virtuoso variety of texture. The sumptuous richness of her sound makes even the finest counter-tenors seem rather thin-voiced. Do not let the unfamiliarity of most of the pieces put you off. Full translations are provided, with the Russian being helpfully rendered in Roman letters. So, let this superrb and thrilling singer introduce you to some very fine music.

Una voz tan impresionante como la de esta mujer, me deja sólo agradeciendo que exista, o que haya existido alguna vez, y que haya respirado, al mismo tiempo que yo, en este planeta. Por lo tanto, recomiendo absolutamente todo material que ella grabe. Es un placer, un poco de luz en medio de tanta oscuridad.

No problems

Discovered her at a later stage in life in an opera and the voice and emotion were monumental.