The Poet’s Echo

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the album’s main glory is the singing of Gemma Summerfield, a soprano endowed with a firm technique and an intense tone with laser-beam attributes even on high. Phrasing and expression are excellent,... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2023, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 31st Mar 2023
Catalogue No: RCD1115
Label: Rubicon
Length: 65 minutes

Presto Editor's Choice

March 2023

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Prokofiev: Drei Romanzen auf Worte von Alexander Puschkin, Op. 73

Work length9:22

$3.15

$3.90

$4.80

Jocelyn Freeman (piano), Gemma Summerfield (soprano)

I. Pines

Track length3:25

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II. Blushing dawn has covered the East

Track length3:32

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Into your front room

Track length2:25

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40

Work length28:39

$5.85

$7.15

$8.80

Jocelyn Freeman (piano), Abi Hyde-Smith (cello)

I. Allegro non troppo

Track length12:50

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

II. Allegro

Track length3:25

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Largo

Track length7:59

$1.60

$1.95

$2.40

IV. Allegro

Track length4:25

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Shostakovich: Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin, Op. 46

Work length12:23

$4.20

$5.20

$6.40

Jocelyn Freeman (piano), Gareth Brynmor John (baritone)

I. Rebirth

Track length2:17

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II. A Youth and a Maiden

Track length1:29

$1.05

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$1.60

III. Foreboding

Track length2:47

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

IV. Stanzas

Track length5:50

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

Britten: Ekho poeta (The Poet's Echo) Op. 76

Work length15:03

$6.30

$7.80

$9.60

Jocelyn Freeman (piano), Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Abi Hyde-Smith (cello)

I. Echo

Track length2:40

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

II. My Heart

Track length1:29

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

III. Angel

Track length2:20

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

IV. The Nightingale and the Rose

Track length3:57

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

V. Epigram

Track length0:44

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

VI. Lines Written During a Sleepless Night

Track length3:53

$1.05

$1.30

$1.60

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Interview, Jocelyn Freeman on The Poet's Echo

4th May 2023

The pianist discusses her album of works with a Pushkin connection (including a new version of Britten's eponymous song-cycle, Shostakovich's Cello Sonata and Prokofiev's Three Romances), recently released on Rubicon and also featuring soprano Gemma Summerfield, baritone Gareth Brynmor John & cellist Abi Hyde-Smith.

This project was initially inspired by the prophetic nature of Shostakovich’s ‘Four Pushkin Romances Op 46’, which Gareth Brynmor John introduced me to in 2019. Not only was I struck by the profundity of how the poetry echoed messages of censorship and exile forward through time; but also by similarities to the cello sonata from two year prior, particularly the composer’s approach to rhythmic features, texture and tessitura. These two works are partnered on our disc by Prokofiev’s ‘Three Pushkin Romances’ which also lyrically reference Pushkin’s exile; and Britten’s ‘The Poet’s Echo’, premiered by soprano Galina Visnevskaya and cellist and pianist Mstislav Rostropovich, a dedicatee of a several cello works by the aforementioned composers.

This final work was written during a composers’ retreat to Armenia in the company of Visnevskaya and Rostropovich, thus devising a cello part for Britten’s only Pushkin cycle felt like an opportunity too good to pass by. I am hugely indebted to Abi Hyde-Smith for her collaborative approach to this process, her patience exploring a broad variety of techniques and sound worlds which resulted in the arrangement recorded on this disc, and the creative input of Gemma Summerfield as she contributed to final drafts during initial rehearsals. We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Britten Pears Arts, Faber Music and Colin Matthews for their support and permission to record this new version of The Poet’s Echo.

Reviews

June 2023

the album’s main glory is the singing of Gemma Summerfield, a soprano endowed with a firm technique and an intense tone with laser-beam attributes even on high. Phrasing and expression are excellent, too...The dark lustre of Gareth Brynmor John’s baritone is put to good use in the gloomier matter of Shostakovich’s four Pushkin settings.

Nov/Dec 2023

All of the performances are excellent. Freeman and Hyde-Smith offer a stellar rendition of the Shostakovich Cello Sonata, giving full due to the work’s varied and mercurial changes of mood. The duo plays with a marvelous synchronicity of articulation and color. Soprano Gemma Summerfield is outstanding in the Prokofiev and Britten works... a thoughtfully conceived and admirably performed recital.

March 2023

this thoughtfully-programmed and beautifully-performed recital of works inspired by Pushkin showcases two distinctive, characterful voices in Summerfield (whose fresh, youthful sound is capable of packing quite a punch when required) and Brynmor John, who rather put me in mind of Matthias Goerne in the Shostakovich. Freeman is an illuminating presence throughout, and Hyde-Smith equally eloquent in the Britten - where the addition of a solo cello line in deference to the Rostropovich connection feels absolutely organic.

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Interview, Jocelyn Freeman on The Poet's Echo

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