Just as some of the best French singers come from the periphery–Belgium, Canada, Sardinia–so do some of the finest Russian singers come from the Baltic states, Poland, or, as in the case of Nicolai Ghiaurov, Bulgaria. Unlike his countryman, black-voiced Boris Christoff, Ghiaurov was a basso cantate who took on baritone roles such as Escamilio as well as the standard devils and nasties of the bass repertoire. His name was on tons of complete opera recordings of the 1960s and 1970s, whether as Boris Godunov with Karajan or in bel canto fare alongside Joan Sutherland.
Here we get the fruits of two recording sessions made in 1962 and 1964, his early prime. This doesn’t give us the most rounded portrait of the singer: there’s no Verdi, no bel canto, and we get Pimen’s aria, not Boris’ monologues, and Leperello’s Catalogue aria, not the Don himself, one of Ghiaurov’s signature roles. However, it also would be wrong to use this disc as a catalogue of another sort, describing in detail where Ghiaurov falls short of the highest standards in many of these selections. His Leperello, for example, could take a little more mischievous glee in his lascivious accounting, and there could be more brio in the Meyerbeer Piff, paff and a blacker Devil in Faust. But nit-picking is hardly called for with singing that’s generally so admirable.
Ghiaurov’s most at home in the Russian selections that comprise the bulk of the disc. Susanin’s aria from Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar, for example, is movingly done, with acute sensitivity and coloring of the words–and the singer’s command of line helps make Pimen’s aria convincing. Prince Gremin’s aria from Eugene Onegin is another big winner, lying nicely within the comfortable high end of his range. But then, so do many of these selections, reminding us of what a fine singer Ghiaurov was. All in all, this is one of the best releases in The Singers series because of its focus on the subject’s prime and its exclusion of unsuitable materials. As with the other “Singers” releases, texts and translations are accessible only via your computer’s CD-ROM drive.
