Ариозо воина / Ariso Warrior

Ирина Архипова. Ариозо Воина из кантаты "Москва" Музыка П.Чайковского, слова А.Майкова Irina Arkhipova sings Arioso Warrior from the cantata "Moscow" by P. Tchaikovsky This is one of Tchaikovsky's great masterpieces, seldom known or performed out of Russia, is the beautiful "Moscow Cantata" commissioned for the Coronation of Emperor Alexander III (May 1883) in Moscow. "…….The cantata is written in six movements for soloists (mezzo soprano and baritone) chorus and orchestra. The composer was pleased to follow the inspired poetry of Apollon Maikov and considered the piece—as the Sixth Symphony later on—one of his best achievements. Tchaikovsky s choral work is remarkably profound and masterful. The cantata differs from Gretchaninov, Mussorgsky or Rimski-Korsakov choral works in the absence of deep bass voices, but it shines with brilliant harmonies, crescendos, and colourful orchestration. But Tchaikovsky would not have been Tchaikovsky if he had not made the second (minor) mezzo-soprano arioso (which we usually call the Warrior’s arioso) the best episode. The music here is extremely moving. We are reminded of the female characters in Tchaikovsky’s operas, from Joan of Arc in The Maid of Orleans to Polina in The Queen of Spades (not yet written); here the music evokes the lyrical and heroic features of Russian womanhood, features which fuse together into a willingness for self-sacrifice, regardless of the character portrayed or her individual nature……."