Vissarion Shebalin: The Complete A Cappella Choral Cycles

Catalogue Number: TOCC0112
EAN: 5060113441126
Release Date: 5 September 2011
Duration: 53:12

Five Choruses. Words by A. Pushkin, Op. 42
Three Choruses to Words by M. Lermontov, Op. 47
Three Choruses to Verses of A. Sofronov, Op. 44
Six Choruses to Words by M. Tank, Op. 45
Four Choruses to Words by M. Isakovsky, Op. 50
Three Choruses to Verses by Moldavian Poets, Op. 52
To my Grandchildren: Four Choruses for Children, Op. 57
In the Forest Clearing: Seven Choruses for Children, Op. 59
‘Oh, my Dawn!’, from the film Glinka

Russkaya Conservatoria Chamber Capella, choir
Nikolay Khondzinsky, conductor

The Siberian-born Vissarion Shebalin (1902–63) is best known for his instrumental music, which includes five symphonies and nine string quartets, some of which have been heard on CD, but this is the first recording of the eight delightful, and very Russian, choral cycles he wrote from 1949. Shebalin had to endure much hardship: along with Shostakovich, a close friend and colleague, he was one of the composers condemned in the infamous 1948 Party congress in Moscow; and in later life he fought to overcome a series of crippling strokes. These tribulations he faced with understated but unshakable optimism, as these touching choruses reveal.

Booklet texts (PDF)