Thursday 14 March 2013

Krassimira Stoyanova: Reluctant diva excels in Slavic Arias

Krassimira Stoyanova: Slavic Opera Arias, 2011.

Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova had a rather late start to her career; born in 1962, she is as violinist as well, and played in 3 different orchestras before embarking on her singing career in 1995. Perhaps this is why she, 48 at the time of recording of the present CD is as fresh-voiced as ever. A long-time favourite of the Vienna State Opera where she is Kammersängerin, she has appeared extensively in all major houses and there can be no doubt, that despite flying somehow below the media radar giving very few English-language interviews, she is one of the greatest lyric-dramatic soprano in present time. Her limited discography does not reflect adequately upon her talent. She has released a few solo CDs, all recommendable, but this, the present one "Slavic Opera Arias" is the best. On DVD she may be seen as Desdemona and Tatjana as well as Rachel in La Juive.

Her voice has a rather square voice, and while some may find it lacks bloom when compared to someone like Anja Harteros, it is firmly centered in the middle register, as well as being equal throughout the range. Furthermore her intonation is spot-on, at least on this CD. Ideal for this repertoire of Slavic Arias, of which some may have seen her live as Tatyana - on DVD in Stefan Herheim´s Amsterdam production and live/screened in Kasper Holten´s recent (2013) production for the London Royal Opera.

She is scheduled to sing the Marschallin in the new Rosenkavalier in Salzburg in 2014, an offer she received after her critically acclaimed debut as Ariadne in Vienna a couple of months ago. More Strauss or Wagner in her future? I hope so, but a look at her website reveals Trovatore-Leonora, Marguerite and Amelia (Boccanegra) as well as Aida and Manon Lescaut.

Her next album will be recorded this summer featuring verismo arias.

Track list:

Tchaikovsky: Letter Scene (Eugene Onegin)
Hadjev: Act 4 Scene (Maria Desislava)
Borodin: Ne malo vremeni (Prince Igor)
Tchaikovsky: Otchevó éto prézhde (Iolanta)
Tchaikovsky: Spi, mladénets moy prekrasny (Mazeppa)
Dvorak: Song to the moon (Rusalka)
Dvorak: Mne zdálo se, ze smrt bledá (Dimitrij)
Dvorak: Necitelná vodní moci (Rusalka)
Tchaikovsky: Uzh polnoch blizitsya (Pique Dame)
Rimsky-Korsakoff: S podrúzhkami po (Snow Maiden)
Stoyanov: Zvezdíte tázi noshch (Hitar Petar)
Smetana: Och, jaký zal! (The Bartered Bride)
Rimsky-Korsakoff: Iván Sergéyevich, khóchesh (The Tsar´s Bride)

The letter scene from Stefan Herheim´s Eugene Onegin:
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average): 5

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How to get it?
THanx, Alessio

mostly opera... said...

@Alessio - ex. via this link http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Orfeo/C830111A

Ray Mungo said...

dear Mostly Opera

Your website is wonderful. Thanks. Can you help us find a performance of "Die Walkure" anywhere in the world between January and April of 2014? One of us, a teacher, has those four months off work. We want to see that particular opera, and better if it's in a foreign country but we'll take the US if necessary.
Peculiar requesst, can you help? THANKS

Anonymous said...

Hi Ray,

you can go to operabase and search for an opera, it will give you listings:

(http://operabase.com/oplist.cgi?lang=en&ask=t)

If you search Dei Walkure, you get:

From To
20 Apr 2013 12 May 2013 7 Amsterdam(NO) Die Walküre
31 Jan 2014 9 Feb 2014 2 Amsterdam(NO) Die Walküre
19 May 2014 3 Jun 2014 9 Barcelona(Liceu) La Valquiria
27 Jul 2013 23 Aug 2013 3 Bayreuth(Wagner) Die Walküre
22 Sep 2013 9 Jan 2014 2 Berlin(Deutsche) Die Walküre
24 Mar 2013 14 Apr 2013 3 Berlin(UDL) Die Walküre
16 Sep 2013 1 Bucuresti(Fest) Die Walküre Concert performance
5 May 2013 1 Darmstadt Die Walküre
5 Oct 2013 12 Oct 2013 3 Dijon(Opera) La Walkyrie
26 May 2013 16 Jun 2013 3 Duisburg Die Walküre
31 Mar 2013 7 Apr 2013 2 Dusseldorf Die Walküre
23 Mar 2013 1 Halle(Oper) Die Walküre
28 May 2013 1 Hamburg(SO) Die Walküre
28 Mar 2013 1 Karlsruhe Die Walküre
18 Jun 2013 8 Jul 2013 3 Longborough Die Walküre New production
31 Aug 2013 1 Luzern(Fest) Die Walküre Concert performance
25 Apr 2013 30 Jun 2013 4 Mannheim Die Walküre
20 Nov 2013 9 Dec 2013 3 Melbourne(OA) Die Walküre New production
18 Jun 2013 25 Jun 2013 2 Milano(Scala) Die Walküre New production
14 Jul 2013 1 München(Fest) Die Walküre
13 Apr 2013 6 May 2013 3 New York(Met) Die Walküre
19 Jun 2013 1 Paris(Opera) La Walkyrie
5 Jun 2013 1 Riga Die Walküre
16 Aug 2013 24 Aug 2013 4 Saint Louis(Union) Die Walküre
9 Jun 2013 23 Jun 2013 2 Sofia Die Walküre
20 Apr 2013 1 Vilnius Die Walküre
15 May 2013 23 Jun 2013 3 Wien(SO) Die Walküre

Ray Mungo said...

Super, thanks for the info.

Ray Mungo

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