Music Review | Dmitri Hvorostovsky: Russian Romances, Lovelorn Variety

Love was the theme of the evening at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, when the remarkable Siberian-born baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky performed romances by Tchaikovsky, Medtner and Rachmaninoff. These being Russian songs, there were no apple-cheeked lovers frolicking in springtime, but instead a torrent of gloom and heartache. Mr. Hvorostovsky used the infinite shadings of his luxuriously dark and dusky voice to illuminate the yearning nuances of bitterness and regret.

Tchaikovsky and Medtner each wrote about 100 romances, and Rachmaninoff produced more than 80 such songs, the Russian equivalent of German lieder. In the first half of the concert Mr. Hvorostovsky, who grew up listening to his father sing and play romances on the piano at home, focused on Tchaikovsky, opening with the poignant “Why?”

Even death brought no relief in “The Love of a Dead Man,” with a text by Mikhail Lermontov, in which a dejected lover pines even while “covered over with cold ground.” In “On the Golden Cornfields,” Mr. Hvorostovsky sang with urgency and haunting pathos, his admirable range of expressive and dynamic shadings aptly mirrored by Ivari Ilja, an exemplary accompanist.

A flicker of sunshine appeared in “Pimpinella” and “Don Juan’s Serenade,” in which the melancholy hues of Mr. Hvorostovsky’s seductive voice brightened for a moment. After intermission the mood turned dark again with Medtner’s “Gone Are My Heart’s Desires,” one of five songs on the program that the composer based on poems by Pushkin and Goethe. Mr. Hvorostovsky’s singing was, as throughout the evening, notable for its fluid Italianate phrasing and impressive breath control.

Mr. Ilja played the turbulent and complex piano part in Medtner’s “Winter Evening” with finesse. He was an equally sensitive accompanist in the piano writing (both tempestuous and restrained) in the five Rachmaninoff romances that came next on the program, bringing more melancholy. But just when you felt like reaching for the bottle, Mr. Hvorostovsky ended the program on a cheery note with the lighthearted “Spring Waters.”

After an evening of such angst-ridden, soulful singing, it was almost disconcerting to see Mr. Hvorostovsky flashing genial smiles at his listeners, who shouted their approval. He rewarded them with three encores, including ardent renditions of the Neapolitan songs “Passione” and “Parlami d’Amore Mariù.” He also offered a haunting, wistful interpretation of an unaccompanied Russian folk song, which held the audience spellbound.

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