<<  -- 2 --  Maria Nockin    AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION

After Prokofiev's stark picture of violent death we are brought back to the beauties of nature with the 'Farewell Aria' from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Maid of Orleans. Joan of Arc, knowing that she will never again return to the places she has frequented as a child, bids them a tender good-bye.

Here Podles is in her lyrical mode, singing with her silken legato and giving special emphasis to the word 'prostite' which means farewell. It is only when she sings of her sacred mission to lead her country's army that she assumes an authoritative tone which assures the listener that she can command an army in battle. Here, as in the other songs and arias, Podles voice is beautifully even and the registers seem perfectly knit together.

'Voina's Arioso' from Tchaikovsky's cantata Moscow is a much less familiar work. It was written for the coronation of Tsar Alexander III in 1833, and its text is taken from Apollon Maikov's history of the city. Writing to his patroness, Nadezhda von Meck, the composer said he found the words to be 'deeply felt and written with originality.'

Podles sings this patriotic hymn apostrophizing truth and devotion to the mother land with burnished golden tones and she pours out floods of radiant sound as her character gains in boldness and patriotic zeal.

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