Russian Song
Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 9/9/2025
Andrew Hamilton (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano)
I was looking forward to this concert, as I sang quite a lot of Russian songs in my own career, with very early impetus provided by the great Russian soprano, Galina Vishnevskaya, in the early 1980s. She was a force of nature, having survived the Siege of Leningrad from 1941-1944, personal, unwanted attention from Stalin and Beria after the War, and having been hunted by the Communist authorities, along with her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich, for their friendship with Solzhenitzyn. Britten and Shostakovich wrote major works for her, and she taught a lucky few of us at the Britten/Pears School at Snape. Our work on Russian song, in particular Mussorgsky’s ‘Songs and Dances of Death,’ was a revelation to me, and a huge influence on my career.
The young baritone, Andrew Hamilton, was a new name to me. Some of the early part of his career has been spent in Germany, firstly in Munich at the Bavarian State Opera, and now in Hamburg with Staatsoper Hamburg, and he is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. Perusing his list of roles, it was clear that he is a proper baritone, a lower voice with a strong high range, and this recital confirmed that view. It was great to hear, as so many of his contemporaries call themselves Bass-baritones, when they can’t make up their minds if they are basses or baritones. There’s no doubt here!
Tall and impressive in stature, he walked on to the performance space in the attractive Episcopal church of the Holy Trinity, with great charisma, and with the excellent Iain Burnside as his superb accompanist on the Bösendorfer piano. The recital began with three Tchaikovsky songs, and it was clear that Mr Hamilton has a voice of impressive power and range. I loved singing Tchaikovsky’s songs, as they are beautifully crafted and full of melodic invention but yet filled with that elusive Russian quality of longing and passion that affects an audience immediately. From the introspection of ‘Reconciliation’ to the passionate wooing of Don Juan prior to his damnation in ‘Serenade’, Mr Hamilton and Mr Burnside brought out all the nuances in the composer’s style, reaching its apogee in the magnificent ‘Nyet tolka tot kto znal’, a Russian rendition of Goethe’s great poem, ‘Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt.’ One of Tchaikovsky’s most famous songs, known in English as ‘None but the Lonely Heart’ (even recorded by Frank Sinatra, although that is an acquired taste!), Mr Hamilton found the perfect balance between desperate longing and full-throated emotion, in well-enunciated Russian.
Iain Burnside recalled his discovery of the next song, by Toneyev, a student of Tchaikovsky, in an amusing anecdote. Like me, he can read Cyrillic writing slowly, and he was astonished to find that the title of this song was ‘Night in the Mountains of….Scotland’, a wonderful discovery in the last word, which surprised him enormously. Apparently, Toneyev’s brother married a Glaswegian, and presumably visited our country as a result. The song was lovely, although I couldn’t detect much that differentiated these mountains from the Urals or the Alps!
We next heard two songs from the four song cycle by Modest Mussorgsky, ‘Songs and Dances of Death’, and here, despite fine singing, I wish Mr Hamilton had had the input of Galina Vishnevskaya, who seemed to live each song rather than simply singing them. There’s more to find than we heard today, but that will come, I’m sure.
Mussorgsky had a pretty rough life, dying of alcoholism at the age of 42, and largely misunderstood as a composer, but he did have great success with a Russian version of Goethe’s ‘Song of the Flea’ from Faust. Mr Burnside cleverly programmed Beethoven’s version before the Mussorgsky, illustrating the chasm between the two geniuses, and Andrew Hamilton sang them both with some relish. I have always found the ending of the Russian song annoying, as the voice breaks off into a diabolical laugh, which is hard to find on its own without slight embarrassment. No such problem here today!
Their recital ended with a selection of Rachmaninov songs, and here I thought Mr Hamilton was at his best. The composer was a phenomenal melodist, and his sweeping melodies suited the dramatic lyricism of Mr Hamilton’s voice. This is a very impressive voice, and I am sure the good Burghers of Hamburg are going to enjoy hearing it in a variety of roles over the next few years. It takes some bravery to leave the British operatic scene to go and live in Germany, but it’s a journey that more and more excellent British singers are going to make, as the operatic opportunities in the UK are diminishing fast. We wish him good luck, although he won’t need much of that, as the voice and presence are already well-developed.
The recital ended with a curiosity – a letter from Rachmaninov to the great Russian director, Stanislavsky, in the form of a song, relating the composer’s regret that he could not attend a theatrical opening night. Clever stuff.
Of course, there was an encore, and what a surprise – a version of ‘Loch Lomond’ by the Soviet composer, Samuil Feinberg, in English/Scots as part of his group of National Songs in 1932. Audience participation was strong!
This was yet another fascinating programme, put together by that excellent Scottish pianist and broadcaster, Iain Burnside.
