Beautiful tragedy: Dmitri Hvorostovsky a vibrant baritone
Montreal Gazette
Monday, April 14, 2003
ARTHUR KAPTAINIS
Star baritone is almost an oxymoron these days, although Dmitri Hvorostovskyhas come closer than most to establishing his name as a brand. On Saturday the Andre Turp Musical Society brought the dashing 40-year-old Siberian toSalle Claude Champagne to perform art songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.This wonderful repertoire has long been imprisoned by both the Russianlanguage and its own pervasive gloominess. "I should like in a single wordto pour out my sorrow and grief," was how this recital began. It ended withthe words "Oh, loneliness! Oh, my distress!" Many were the broken hearts andbarren vistas in between. Still, Hvorostovsky made an evening of the material with his vibrant voiceand passionate delivery. He had the warmth of tone to sustain the melancholycontinuum of Tchaikovsky's Once Again, as Before, I Am Alone and thesongsmanship to make a memorable thing of the brief lyric My Protector, My Angel, My Friend. After intermission it was on to Rachmaninoff and an even darker outlook onhumanity. Of course, there can be beauty in sadness, and the fluid melismaon the opening vowel of In the Silence of the Secret Night was a good omen.Hvorostovsky applied great rhetorical force to Christ Is Risen, in which theauthor supposes that Our Saviour would weep bitter tears at the sight ofthis wretched world. Unfortunately, there was only one selection - A Dream -from Rachmaninoff's progressive and impressionistic last set of songs. Truth to tell, the program might have been more varied and less oppressive.Even Piotr Ilych and Sergei had their lighter moments. But with such soundand charisma from this fellow in the frock coat, no one could be heard tocomplain. Indeed, the big benefit crowd loved every tragic moment of it, clapping between numbers, despite some early efforts by Turp Societyconnoisseurs to shush them. Hvorostovsky's pianist, Mikhail Arkadiev, played the notoriously elaborateaccompaniments fluently. Alas, he was hamstrung by a weak piano. This instrument was standing in for the Universite de Montreal Steinway, whichwas unavailable because of a labour dispute. Or something. As encores Hvorostovsky offered the Credo from Verdi's Otello and SalvatoreCardillo's ballad Core 'ngrato, which the United Nations really ought todeclare an exclusive tenor preserve. Finally came an unaccompanied Siberianfolk song showing the voice as fresh and flexible as it was at the start ofthe evening.