fri 29/03/2024

Irina awaits the Spring | reviews, news & interviews

Irina awaits the Spring

Irina awaits the Spring

The redoubtable and always stylish Russian mezzo-soprano Irina Arkhipova, who died a week ago at the age of 85, still has a song to sing about the prolonged winter we're enduring. Among many roles in which she plunged in true Slavic fashion to contralto depths was that of the shepherd-boy Lel in Rimsky-Korsakov's Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). This "Spring fairy-tale" is about how we're destined to carry on shivering until the Snow Maiden, daughter of Frost and Spring, melts at the first rays of love. Here's Arkhipova in a fine old Melodiya recording of Lel's first song, wondering whether the wild strawberry can survive the continuing cold snap.

Share this article

Add comment

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters