Ljuba Kazarnovskaya: The complete "12 romances Op. 60" (Tchaikovsky)

12 romances (Op. 60):
I. Vcherashnyaya noch' 00:00
II. Ya tebe nichego ne skazhu 02:52
III. O, yesli b znali vy 05:22
IV. Solovey 07:46
V. Prostyye slova 11:27
VI. Nochi bezumnyye 14:02
VII. Pesn' tsyganki 17:26
VIII. Prosti! 20:22
IX. Noch' 23:32
X. Za oknom v teni mel'kayet 27:36
XII. Podvig 29:22
XII. Nam zvezdy krotkiye siyali 32:53

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-93) composer
Ljuba Kazarnovskaya -soprano
Ljuba Orfenova -piano

Playlist: The art of Russian song: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky...: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdM8VSWYvcWEFAIPSACJP3UM0xNDdnl-R

Score: http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/7/72/IMSLP19074-PMLP45030-Tchaik_TH106.pdf

Tchaikovsky recounted the origins of these romances in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 3/15 September 1886: "Upon finishing the opera [The Enchantress] I immediately began writing the romances... in the spring His Highness Konstantin Konstantinovich told me that the Empress would like me to dedicate a single romance to her; His Highness having taken it upon himself to act as intermediary on her behalf, and urged me to do so".
The process of composition is described in detail in the composer's diary for 1886. This contains entries for almost every day that Tchaikovsky worked on the romances, demonstrating how much difficulty they caused the composer:
19/31 August: "Composed romances for the Empress. Began not particularly well..."
20 August/1 September: "Composed a romance".
21 August/2 September: "After tea and a stroll, wrote a romance".
22 August/3 September: "I was busy before dinner composing a romance, but not without some effort..."
23 August/4 September: "Before Modya and Hubert left for the station, I wrote a romance..."
24 August/5 September: "While waiting for Taneyev, tortured myself by writing another romance".
25 August/6 September: "Wrote a romance and a letter"
26 August/7 September: "After tea and a stroll around the garden wrote nearly 2 romances"
29 August/10 September: "With considerable distaste I manufactured a romance. No enthusiasm, but since it's for the Empress, there must be at least 10 romances".
30 August/11 September: "Weather extraordinarily beautiful. But after tea and a short walk, I still wrote a romance".
By 30 August/11 September, ten romances had been written (Nos. 2–10 and 12). "I've been doing an awful lot of work recently. The opera is finished, but I can't begin the instrumentation because the notepaper I ordered isn't ready, so instead I've written ten romances".
The fair copies of the romances were made almost as soon as they had been sketched.

Source: http://wiki.tchaikovsky-research.net/wiki/Twelve_Romances,_Op._60

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