| View Larger Image | The Very Best of Boris Christoff | Audio CDBoris Christoff (Performer), Gaston Marchesini (Performer), Arrigo Boito (Performer), Alexander Borodin (Performer), Christoph Willibald Gluck (Performer), Charles Gounod (Performer), Modest Mussorgsky (Performer), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Performer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Performer), Russian Traditional (Performer), Giuseppe Verdi (Performer), André Cluytens (Performer), Georges Tzipine (Performer), Issay Dobroven (Performer), Issay Dobrowen (Performer), Jerzy Semkov (Performer), Nicolai Malko (Performer), Wilhelm Schuchter (Performer), Anna Alexieva (Performer), Conservatory Society Concert Orchestra [members of] (Performer)
| List Price: | $16.98 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Studio: | EMI Classics | | Release Date: | April 26, 2005 | | Sales Rank: | 178,706th |
|
TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: Boris Godunov, opera: Prologue. Skorbit dusha!
- Track 2: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 1. Yeshchó odnó poslyédneye skazánye
- Track 3: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 1. Nye syétuy, brat
- Track 4: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 1. Kak vo górode býlo vo Kazáne
- Track 5: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 2. Dostíg ya výshey vlásti
- Track 6: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 2. Clock Scene. Uf! Tyazheló!
- Track 7: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 4. Prosnúlsa ya...Oy; dúshno!
- Track 8: Boris Godunov, opera: Act 4. Death of Boris. Zvon! Pogrebál'ny zvon!
- Track 9: Prince Igor, opera (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov & Glazunov): Act 1. Nateshilsya il knyaz?
- Track 10: Prince Igor, opera (completed by Rimsky-Korsakov & Glazunov): Act 2. O net, net, drug
- Track 11: At Some Folks' Houses (U lyudey-to v domu), song for voice & orchestra
- Track 12: For the Shores of Thy Far Native Land (Dlya beregov otchiznï dal'noy), song for voice & piano
- Track 13: Sadko, opera in 3 (or 5) acts: Scene 4. Song of the Viking Guest
- Track 14: Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (Skazaniye o nevidimom grade Kitezhe), opera in 4 acts: Act 3. Prince Yuri's Aria
- Track 15: Eugene Onegin, opera, Op. 24: Act 3. Prince Gremin's Aria
- Track 16: Eh, Ukhnyem (Song of the Volga Boatmen), folk song
- Track 17: Mephistopheles' Song of the Flea, for voice & piano or orchestra, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov
|
Disc: 2
- Track 1: Faust, opera: Act 2. Le veau d'or est toujours deboot
- Track 2: Faust, opera: Act 4. Seigneur, daignez permertre
- Track 3: Faust, opera: Act 4. Serenade. Qu'attendez-vous encore? ... Vous qui faites l'endormie
- Track 4: Iphigénie en Aulide, opera in 3 acts, Wq. 40: Act 2. Decidesti il suo destin ... Con le mie guardie ... O tu la cosa mia più cara
- Track 5: Attila, opera: Act 1. Uldino! Non hai veduto? ... Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima
- Track 6: Don Carlo, opera: Act 3. Ella giammai m'amò!
- Track 7: Mefistofele, opera in prologue, 4 acts & epilogue: Act 1. Son lo spirito che nega
- Track 8: Cradle song, song for voice & piano, Op. 16/1
- Track 9: None but the lonely heart, song for voice & piano, Op. 6/6
- Track 10: Vdolj po Peterskoy (Along the Peterskaya Road), folk song
- Track 11: The Nursery (Detskaya; 7), song cycle for voice & piano, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov: 1. With Nanny
- Track 12: The Nursery (Detskaya; 7), song cycle for voice & piano, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov: In the Corner
- Track 13: The Nursery (Detskaya; 7), song cycle for voice & piano, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov: The Beetle
- Track 14: The Nursery (Detskaya; 7), song cycle for voice & piano, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov: With the Doll
- Track 15: The Nursery (Detskaya; 7), song cycle for voice & piano, edited by Rimsky-Korsakov: At Bedtime
- Track 16: Songs & Dances of Death (Pesni y plyaski smerti; 4), song cycle for voice & orchestra, orchestration by Glazunov & Rimsky-Korsakov: 1
- Track 17: Songs & Dances of Death (Pesni y plyaski smerti; 4), song cycle for voice & orchestra, orchestration by Glazunov & Rimsky-Korsakov: 2
|
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 3 reviews)
|
The Big Gun of Bassos by Rosomax (Boulder, CO United States)  5 Stars
February 09, 2009
The great Boris Christoff was a post World War II reigning bass. Bulgarian by birth, Christoff was able to quickly become popular all over the world due to his beautiful robust voice and what can probably be called "method-acting" for the opera. While his voice was not as huge as his fellow-Bulgarian's Nicolai Ghiaurov's, it was still a "force of nature", sometimes causing Christoff to literately "eschew the scene". His skill at clear delivery, making sure that every word is distinguishable and meaningful, is a rare quality in bassos (some even sound like they have their mouths full of kashi), and it allowed him to take on very nuanced art-song repertoire, including Mussorgsky's "Songs and Dances of Death", alas not included in its entirety here (I kept wondering why was it necessary to cut The Lullaby and Serenade from this cycle, and still present "The Nursery", somewhat of an oddity where Christoff lightened his voice to sound entirely un-basso :)).
In addition to his celebrated Russian roles, such as Boris Godunov or Khan Konchak, Christoff was a superb interpreter of Italian and French repertoire. Heard here as Philip II and Mephistopheles, Christoff is at the height of his powers, injecting so much sorrow to the king's lament and such verve to the devil, these characters become very real and three-dimensional.
As to the CD set layout itself, it boasts a large selection from "Boris Godunov", including a spectacular Varlaam's song, several Italian, Russian, and French "greatest hits" (there's also a Chaliapin favorite "Mephistopheles' Song of a Flea", punctuated by chuckles and other "evil" noises; Christoff clearly had a grand time recording it), but it does leave one hungry for more.
Christoff's "Italian Opera Arias" CD is sadly out of print, and his DG recordings are available mostly in Europe (although "Russian Romances and Folksongs" album recently surfaced) and his marvelous Mélodies Russes (French EMI) 5-set CD is very hard to find. But as an excellent introduction to his art, this set is a must-have.
| |
Christoff the Great by G. Kind (The Netherlands) 5 Stars
October 03, 2008
If you have always been a Christoff fan you should have this marvellous anthology.
If you never heard him before: meet one of the greatest singers ever. His sound is unique and his interpretations wonderfull. Nobody has ever sung the Kings Aria from Don Carlos so moving as he! ( you can see him do it on You tube) He has been the most sinister Mefisto ( Faust) ever. His Godunov is wonderfull and frightening. What a voice! It is very good that these CD's exist to keep it alive!
Gerard Kind Amsterdam
| |
It's Christoff. 'Nuff said. by C. Scott Harrison 5 Stars
August 20, 2008
The best of the best. Christoff is tremendous. Great price too. Hear the greatest basso of the 20th century.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| The Very Best of Alfredo Kraus
Frederic Vassar (Performer), Sherrill Milnes (Performer), Agostino Ferrin (Performer), Jean-Noël Bèguelin (Performer), Robert Lloyd (Performer), Stefan Elenkov (Performer), Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (Performer), Vincenzo Bellini (Performer), Gaetano Donizetti (Performer), Charles Gounod (Performer), Jules Massenet (Performer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Performer), Giacomo Puccini (Performer), Giuseppe Verdi (Performer), Bruno Campanella (Performer), James Levine (Performer), Julius Rudel (Performer), Karl Böhm (Performer), Michel Plasson (Performer), Michelangelo Veltri (Performer)
| 
| Very Best of
by Jussi Bjorling
| 
| The Very Best of Beniamino Gigli
Gino Bechi (Performer), Giuseppe Noto (Performer), Giuseppe Taddei (Performer), Gino Conti (Performer), Eduardo di Capua (Performer), Salvatore Cardillo (Performer), Francesco Cilea (Performer), Ernesto de Curtis (Performer), Luigi Denza (Performer), Gaetano Donizetti (Performer), Cesar Franck (Performer), Umberto Giordano (Performer), Charles Gounod (Performer), Fromental Halevy (Performer), Edouard Lalo (Performer), Ruggero Leoncavallo (Performer), Pietro Mascagni (Performer), Jules Massenet (Performer), Giacomo Puccini (Performer), Gioachino Rossini (Performer)
| 
| The Very Best of Nicolai Gedda
by Nicolai Gedda, Adolphe Adam, Ludwig van Beethoven, Vincenzo Bellini, Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Gaetano Donizetti, Friedrich von Flotow, Mikhail Glinka, Karl Goldmark
| 
| The Very Best of Franco Corelli
Vincenzo Bellini (Composer), Salvatore Cardillo (Composer), Francesco Cilea (Composer), Franco Corelli (Composer), Mario Zanasi (Composer), Tito Gobbi (Composer), Bonaldo Giaiotti (Composer), Giuseppe Modesti (Composer), Guido Mazzini (Composer), Paolo Pedani (Composer)
|
|
|
