SERGEI LEMESHEV Werther "Pourquoi me reveiller" 1938

[MrSkylark1]

There aren't enough superlatives to describe the greatest Lyric Tenor of all time.

[monamelody45]

@lehrent But what about Corelli's absolutely horrible pronunciation in French?

[kocharova]

ГЕНИАЛЬНО!

[jfmberu78]

Pourquoi me réveiller, au souffle du printemps ?

Sur mon front je sens tes caresses.

Et pourtant bien proche est le temps

Des orages et des tristesses.

Demain, dans le vallon,

Se souvenant de ma gloire première,

Et ses yeux vainement chercheront ma splendeur :

Ils ne trouveront plus que deuil et que misère !

Helas ! pourquoi me réveiller, au souffle du printemps ?

[leoniemikele]

@lehrent Thanks, cool. I'll listen.

[leoniemikele]

I can't help but think he might be the best ever recorded, along with Di Stefano (early recordings), Caruso, Bjorling, Schipa, Bergonzi, Carreras (early), and Kraus. Everything this singer has is phenomenal.

[seektheforce]

@leoniemikele Bjoerling recorded this :O!!! Do post do post!!

[grafmandryka]

For non-russian speakers like me, but I will not generalize I am just speaking for me, this language always has something melancholic or evokes melancholic feelings by listening and it is achingly beautiful sung by Lemeshev :-). Thanks for sharing!

[MrMikeo2010]

Просто нестандартный текст режет ухо и мешает воспринимать музыку... Классический текст пел Собинов.

[younglemeshevist]

@MrMikeo2010 Классический текст - французский. Мне любой из этих русских текстов слегка режет ухо, у Собинова тоже , т.к. не является образцом поэзии. "Холодная ручонка" в Богеме это вообще за гранью. Но Лемешев не виноват, что переводные тексты были не слишком хороши. А в целом это не слишком смущает, когда пение такого уровня.

[MrMikeo2010]

@younglemeshevist Для меня текст, спетый Собиновым - парагон, т.е. образец для подражания. Я на нём вырос. А образцом поэзии тексты вокальных произведений никогда не были и не будут, именно поэтому реальные стихи, положенные на музыку, звучат нелепо.

[younglemeshevist]

@MrMikeo2010 Но не Собинов же его писал. И не Лемешев. В совестком театре постоянно меняли редакции многих либретто. Понятно. что можно привыкнуть к чему-то, но певцы тут ни при чем. Тем более, уровень текста существенно не изменился. Кажется, в 1930х Лемешев пел и другую версию тоже.

[MrMikeo2010]

@younglemeshevist Певцы ни при чем, а восприятие при чем... Собиновский текст Лемешев не пел.

[younglemeshevist]

@MrMikeo2010 Но качество пения и выразительность тут тоже ни при чем. Других смущает, что русские-советские певцы не пели на французском. И что с того? Даже если ни одного слова не разобрать, достаточно послушать интонацию.

[MrMikeo2010]

@younglemeshevist Нет уж простите, это-вот наша российская тенденция многих десятилетий - забывать, что опера - прежде всего ТЕАТР, т.е. ЗРЕЛИЩЕ, а потом уже бельканто и прочая музыкальная мура. Для восхищения музыкой КАК ТАКОВОЙ существуют концертные исполнения и целый жанр камерной музыки. А опера, как и любой другой театр, должна быть зрелищной и понятной в плане текстов.

[younglemeshevist]

@MrMikeo2010 А причем тут Лемешев и Собинов? Текст, который пел Лемешев от версии, спетой Собиновым не ушел далеко по понятности и качеству. Повторяю, певцы здесь ни при чем. Вы же все понимаете. театральные проблемы обсуждать не собираюсь - слишком долго.

[MrMikeo2010]

Откуда у него нестандартный текст? Все другие поют "О не буди меня дыханием весны, о не буди меня! Ты несёшь с собой призрак счастья, но, увы, пройдет светлый миг - буря грянет и всё развеет!" и т.д.

[younglemeshevist]

@MrMikeo2010 Часто бывает несколько редакций текста, который делают сами певцы, а другие певцы поют следом за ними. Отслеживать все вариации нет смысла.Козловский пел какую-то особую редакцию "Та или эта" в Риголетто. но большого значения это не имеет.

[delosreyesgavikanes]

Beautiful voice, just has a little fast vibrato, maybe the recording. Good B flat.

[pippopapa]

One of the best version I have ever heard. Unfortunateky Soviet Union was isolated from the rest of the world so the beautiful singers of that time (Lemeshev, Nelepp, Ivanov, Lisitsian etc) were almost unknown in western opera hoses

[MultiSORDO]

@pippopapa

Blame Winston Churchill...and his iron curtain.

It is stupid to blame URSS if the soviet artists were unknown in the capitalist world.

The question is how this artist, who have a quite real conception of art could developpe in "stalinist russia", and why there is no one real good artist today in the capitalist world.

Art is the mirror of a society, of a system.



[MrSkylark1]

SERGEI LEMESHEZ was a SUPERIOR, SPLENDID TENOR, who went UNRECOGNIZED in the WEST obviously due to the SPECIAL INTERESTS

of the IMPRESSARIOS and POLITICS.

[qklq42]

Russian singers are always underrated in the West. He is just great !

Hans NL

[AnryK2690]

Brilliant!

[cleanears]

What a pity Russia was closed off to the rest of the world for so long.

[796824]

How ludicrous the music magazines and operatic stage have become with the lauding of singers (?) who are " totally" incapable of the spontaneity, brilliance, and chiaroscuro singing as heard in the superb Lemeshev

[spqrmor]

brilliant tenor of all times!

[paulostroff99]

As good as any ever recorded!  Bravo!

[marlylovesjewels]

This was exquisite singing, refined and elegant yet powerful. What a great artist he was.

[jacquesurlus]

Un des plus beau Werther que j'ai entendu, dans ces conditions la langue n'a aucune importance.

[njtenor57]

je suis totalemente d'accord, il est tout sur la belle voix...

[abracadabranque]

@jacquesurlus Certes!

[Ankhsnammon]

without doubts...AMAZING!!A splendent jewel...a true treasure...Ankhsnammon

[mysong42]

an absolute gem,thank you for posting this phenomenal tenor...

[smartsteve]

O ne budi menya, Zefir mladoy vesny, Navevaya mne strasti gryozy, No uvy, proidut schast'ya dni, Ih zamenyat nam skorb i slyozy . O ne budi menya, Zefir mladoy vesny I vot v dolinu k vam Pevets drugoy pridyot. Moyey minuvshey slavy i znachen'ya On uzh tam ne naidyot, Obo mne on vzdohnyot, Vspomnit zhizni neschast'ya moi I muchen'ya, uvy.

[smartsteve]

Beautiful,when I was young I thought the language of love was french,when I study opera singing I thought only italian and greek are the only two suitable languages to sing to,but When I learn some russian I couldn't believe the feeling in singing russian;I will apreciate if you can insert the russian lyrics;come on guys music is for everyone,pls save me some time trying to locate it or print it out myself.

[stefakamelpash]

Syanovsk: Actually, Mark Reizen did sing abroad as a young singer. He performed in London, Monte Carlo and throughout Eastern Europe. But yes, he was basically the quintessential Soviet artist. I would only disagree with you in the case of Kozlovsky. He would have fared very poorly abroad, because he was a careless musician, and very arrogant toward other singers and conductors. He would have been eaten alive in Italy. Lemeshev would have done very well. It really is a shame in his case.

[jorgepoveda]

Una de las arias mas espectaculares,porque no se requiere ser ni siquiera aficionado a la opera para emocionarse del contenido de sus versos y de la sentida musica que los acompañan. Y en verdad es una lastima que tenores de esa magnifica escuela rusa ,fuesen victimas de la estupidez de la guerra fria.

[syanovsk]

How sad that the likes of Lemeshev, Kozlovsky and Reizen had to languish behind the iron curtain. Never having the privilege of working with Italian conductors or their peers. None the less; Gigli, eat your heart out:)

[CzarDodon]

syanovsk, the USSR was a big place and, with its pros and cons, had a vibrant cultural life of its own. The singers you mention had plenty of valid conductors and peers with whom they worked. Perhaps the iron curtain in part delayed the globalised cultural supermarket we are now seeing today where every orchestra tries to sound like the Berlin Philharmonic and women singing Handel try their best to sound like countertenors!

[pasfresh123]

They certainly did not feel like they were languishing. Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Rumania, Albania, Hungary, Poland, Czekoslovakia, Yugoslavia, etc. Very varied cultures, very big territory, thousands of theatres, millions and millions of opera lovers...

[KissaMyEyes]

thank you so much for sharing! i've never heard of this tenor but his interpretation of this is quite impressive.

[stefakamelpash]

Certainly one of the better recordings that have been made of this paricular aria. It reminds me of Georges Thill, stylistically, although Lemeshev has a better voice...shades of young Bjoerling. This is a superb tenor, no doubt about it!

[ecotton21]

beautiful!