Nathalie Dessay - S. Rachmaninov - Не пой, красавица, при мне

Natalie Dessay sings a song by Sergei Rachmaninoff, "Не пой, красавица, при мне" ("Sing, o lovely one, I beg, no more")

"It is the only romance Rachmaninoff ever wrote to Alexander Pushkin's verse.

Sing, lovely one, I beg, no more
The songs of Georgia in my presence,
For of a distant life and shore
Their mournful sound calls up remembrance;
For of a moonlit steppe, and night
They cruelly, vengefully remind me,
And of a face long lost to sight,
Well loved, but left, alas, behind me.
When you are nigh, I gaze at you,
And lo! No fatal shadow haunts me:
But at your song's first note, anew
It reappears, and plagues and taunts me.
Sing, lovely one, I beg, no more
The songs of Georgia in my presence,
For of a distant life and shore
Their mournful sound calls up remembrance."

In 1892 Sergei Rachmaninoff, then a 19-year-old young man, made up his mind to graduate from Moscow Conservatory ahead of time. Professor Anton Arensky, his composition teacher, gave him the green light to write a cycle of romances and a one-act opera. Rachmaninoff readily agreed and before long he wrote six such songs one to the lyrics of his much-loved poet Alexander Pushkin.

Being so young, Rachmaninoff was understandably hesitant to take up a poem by the all-time Russian genius. His choice finally fell on a poem Pushkin had once written to Mikhail Glinka's tune. Even though this competition with two classics made Rachmaninoff feel even more nervous, the song came out real well.

http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/2248383/2315540.html

Nathalie Dessay, soprano
conductor: Vassily Sinaisky
Bolshoi Theatre re-opening gala (directed by Dmitry Chernyakov)
Moscow, 28 October 2011

Category:

Music

Tags:

• красавица
• при мне

[operafan0anegnd]

Love it. Beautiful voice. Pronunciation not bad for not native speaker. Brava!

[callastoujours]

HORRIBLE. Not a song for her tiny voice.