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The outstanding singer and soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre Elena
Kruglikova (1907-1982) was born in Podolsk. From early on in her
childhood, she felt that she had a calling for singing and was engaged
by amateur choral groups. In 1924 she graduated from the high school in
Podolsk and entered the vocal class of the musical college (named after
the brothers Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein) which was part of the Moscow
Conservatory. In 1933 she graduated with honors from the Moscow
Conservatory, where she studied in the classes of Maria Vladimirova
(sister of the soprano Valeria Barsova), and then – of Xenia Dorliac. In
1931-32 she was engaged as a soloist of All-Union Radio and between 1932
and 1956 she was engaged as a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre.
Kruglikova’s art is exemplified by an honesty, vitality and simplicity
combined with a great warmth, poetry, soft lyricism and musicality. "She
had a wide range, free in all registers, and a remarkably beautiful
voice - wrote Valeria Barsova. – one could sense a deep, restrained
artistic temperament."
Elena Kruglikova was one of the best performers of the role of Tatiana
in Tchaikovsky’s "Eugene Onegin." Her partner in this opera, the tenor
Solomon Khromchenko noted "trepidation, lyricism and emotion in her
performance of Tatiana. She did not play Pushkin’s heroine. On stage,
she was Pushkin’s Tatiana. " Among the other roles created by Kruglikova
at the Bolshoi theater, were Iolanta, Vera Sheloga, Elsa in "Lohengrin,"
Oksana in "The Slippers", the Countess in " Le nozze di Figaro " Eteri
in Z.Paliashvili’s "Abesalom and Eteri", Sieglinde, Matilda in
"Guillaume Tell", Antonida in "Ivan Susanin", Xenia in "Boris Godunov",
Bela in A.Alexandrova’s opera of the same name, Halka, Masha in
"Dubrovsky" Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni" and Tamara in the "Demon." She
created vibrant national characters in Ivan Dzerzhinsky’s operas based
upon the novels by Mikhail Sholokhov: Natalia in "Quiet Flows the Don"
and Lushka in "Virgin Soil Upturned." Between 1969 and 1976 she taught
at the music school of the Moscow Conservatory and from 1961 - the
conservatory itself.
Kruglikova often performed as a concert singer. Her large chamber-music
repertoire included songs and romances by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky,
Rachmaninov, Brahms, Grieg, Schumann and others – and often performed in
collaboration with the pianist Alexander Goldenweiser. She also devoted
individual concerts to performances of Russian folk songs. In the
concert presented on this disc she performs songs in treatments by
Russian and Soviet composers (Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Liadov,
Krasev, Shishov, Koval, Saliman-Vladimirov, Mosolov, etc.). In concert
her audience was attracted to the noble and moving character of the
performance, and her attention to subtle nuances. Despite being an opera
artist, on the concert stage, she rarely resorted to gestures and relied
instead on expressive and subtle facial expressions. This album is not
only the first solo CD devoted to this singer, but also the first and
only opportunity to hear her in a live performance. This concert was the
only recital recorded of Elena Kruglikova
M. Nikiforov
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