Buried treasure

Soprano Marina Rebeka shares some favourite recordings from her collection

Raimonds Pauls Long Way in the Dunes Raimonds Pauls and his Orchestra Microphone Records MRCD525

I associate Raimonds Pauls with my childhood and the movies we watched during Soviet times. He’s a wonderful pianist and melodist, perhaps known more in Latvia and Russia. His music is light and romantic, with a little bit of a jazzy touch. The Long Way in the Dunes was a very famous movie – it’s very easy-listening but not at all trivial.

Kancheli Earth, This Is Your Son Frédéric Bednarz (violin), Natsuki Hiratsuka (piano) Metis Island MI0009

Giya Kancheli often came to Latvia and gave concerts at the Riga Dome Cathedral. These miniatures for violin and piano are very nice. The central piece on this disc starts out very melancholic, strange and modern, but becomes very romantic. Kancheli’s sound is somewhere between meditation and music; it creates a kind of peace of mind in the listener.

Prokofiev Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27 Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano), Mstislav Rostropovich (piano) BNF (Digital Release)

I have to say I am not the biggest fan of Vishnevskaya’s voice; her timbre is not as soft and caressing as I would like. Her interpretation of these songs, though, is really amazing and ‘The King With Grey Eyes’ is a masterpiece. It is very demanding vocally, because of the tessitura, and musically it’s really difficult. The text is strong, very modern, and the lyrics tell a powerful story. I’m very happy that the

Bibliothèque national de France released these 1962 recordings in a digital format. Marina Rebeka’s album ‘Credo’ is out now on Prima Classic and is reviewed on p84