Olga Borodina

“Gheorghiu is an inspired piece of casting for the heroine...There is an excitement about [Kaufmann's] voice and stage presence that is infectious, ...Borodina chews up the scenery, singing with a voice so commanding that it takes you aback...McVicar’s production is another treat, this time for the eyes...All told, then, this set is an absolute winner. It even supersedes Levine’s Sony CDs as an overall first choice for this opera in any format.” MusicWeb International, June 2012

“Bychkov's idiomatic interpretation flows well, never freezing up, as some do, in the slowest passages. He also avoids false theatrics, finding instead an inner vitality that motivates the Sanctus with energy.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2008 ****

“…a supremely well directed Requiem, scrupulously observed, meticulously prepared, vivid, lucid, forward-moving. Borodina… is an eloquent exponent of the mezzo-soprano role… what Urmana's voice lacks in evenness in legato passages is more than made up for by her command of the spinto manner, the drama of the text vividly purveyed. Ferruccio Furlanetto... brings an authentically Italianate feel to the music, as does bel canto specialist Ramón Vargas, here at his eloquent best.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2008

“On this fine new Cologne recording, Semyon Bychkov deploys two specialist German radio choirs shrewdly intermixed with the chorus of Turin's Teatro Regio. If Bychkov's reading doesn't quite burn white in the Dies irae as Fricsay's did, or Toscanini's, it is nonetheless a supremely well directed Requiem, scrupulously observed, meticulously prepared, vivid, lucid, forward-moving. If there's a reservation, it is that the recorded balance occasionally has one straining to hear how good the choral work actually is.
Olga Borodina is an eloquent exponent of the mezzo-soprano role, well matched to her younger colleague, herself an erstwhile mezzo.
What Urmana's voice lacks in evenness in legato passages is more than made up for by her command of the spinto manner, the drama of the text vividly purveyed. Ferruccio Furlanetto, now in his 59th year, has lost none of his mastery of the legato style. He brings an authentically Italianate feel to the music, as does bel canto specialist Ramón Vargas, here at his eloquent best.
Verdi's Requiem can seem a somewhat self-regarding piece, not least when 'great interpreters' get hold of it. This reading, for all its distinction, gives itself no airs.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Soprano Violeta Urmana, mezzo Olga Borodina, tenor Ramon Vargas and bass Ferruccio Furlanetto all have their moments, but its the orchestra and German choirs who fuel the impassioned frenzy between passages of the most eloquent reflection. If you like your Verdi hot and spicy, this is for you.” The Guardian, 12th October 2008

"This is a magnificent achievement on all sides. In a recording that is wider in range, more immediate than almost any I can recall, the work comes to arresting life under Bychkov's vital direction ... Focile and Hvorostovsky prove almost ideal interpreters of the central roles." Gramophone, December 1993

“This is a magnificent achievement on all sides.
In a recording that is wide in range, the work comes to arresting life under Bychkov's vital direction. Too often of late, on disc and in the theatre, the score has been treated self-indulgently and on too large a scale. Bychkov makes neither mistake, emphasizing the unity of its various scenes, never lingering at slower tempos than Tchaikovsky predicates, yet never moving too fast for his singers.
Focile and Hvorostovsky prove almost ideal interpreters of the central roles. Focile offers keen-edged yet warm tone and total immersion in Tatyana's character. Aware throughout of the part's dynamic demands, she phrases with complete confidence, eagerly catching the girl's dreamy vulnerability and heightened imagination in the Letter Scene, which has that sense of awakened love so essential to it. Then she exhibits Tatyana's new-found dignity on Gremin's arm and finally her desperation when Onegin reappears to rekindle her romantic feelings.
Hvorostovsky is here wholly in his element. His singing has at once the warmth, elegance and refinement Tchaikovsky demands from his antihero.
He suggests all Onegin's initial disdain, phrasing his address to the distraught and humiliated Tatyana – Focile so touching here – with distinction, and brings to it just the correct bon ton, a kind of detached humanity. He fires to anger with a touch of the heroic in his tone when challenged by Lensky, becomes transformed and single-minded when he catches sight of the 'new' Tatyana at the St Petersburg Ball. Together he, Focile and Bychkov make the finale the tragic climax it should be: indeed here this passage almost unbearably moving in this reading.
Shicoff has refined and expanded his Lensky since he recorded it for Levine. His somewhat lachrymose delivery suits the character of the lovelorn poet, and he gives his big aria a sensitive, Russian profile, full of much subtlety of accent, the voice sounding in excellent shape, but there is a shade too much self-regard when he opens the ensemble at Larin's party with 'Yes, in your house'. Anisimov is a model Gremin, singing his aria with generous tone and phrasing while not making a meal of it. Olga Borodina is a perfect Olga, spirited, a touch sensual, wholly idiomatic with the text – as, of course, is the revered veteran Russian mezzo Arkhipova as Filipievna, an inspired piece of casting. Sarah Walker, Covent Garden's Filipievna, is here a sympathetic Larina. Also from the Royal Opera comes Egerton's lovable Triquet, but whereas Gergiev, in the theatre, dragged out his couplets inordinately, Bychkov once more strikes precisely the right tempo.
There will also be a very special place in the discography of the opera for the vintage Russian versions, but as a recording they are naturally outclassed by the Philips, which now becomes the outright recommendation.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010