Just seen that the great Russian baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky passed away this morning after a long battle with brain cancer.
I saw him many times in operas and in recital. Not just one of the great voices of our times, but also a great artist (probably more so in recital). I remember in particular a memorable concert of Russian song at the Barbican accompanied by Kissin.
He was also a generous and unselfish artist. I spoke to him in Vienna when RCA released a recording of his proms performance of the Songs and Dances of Death and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances with the St Petersburg Phil and Termikanov. He had not seen the CD cover before and was outraged that he had been given higher billing than Temirkanov by the record company.
I saw him many times in operas and in recital. Not just one of the great voices of our times, but also a great artist (probably more so in recital). I remember in particular a memorable concert of Russian song at the Barbican accompanied by Kissin.
He was also a generous and unselfish artist. I spoke to him in Vienna when RCA released a recording of his proms performance of the Songs and Dances of Death and Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances with the St Petersburg Phil and Termikanov. He had not seen the CD cover before and was outraged that he had been given higher billing than Temirkanov by the record company.