“Soloists Polina Pastirchak (a Hungarian soprano of Russian roots) and Dimitry Ivashchenko (a Russian bass) are most successful in bringing out conspicuous emotional depth and their voices contrast starkly, which feels ideal. Movement four, The Suicide, employs a text by Apollinaire and was said to deeply have deeply affected the composer during rehearsals for its première. With her bright, strong and distinctive soprano, Pastirchak sings with an authentic feeling for the disturbing text, beginning and ending with the words “Three lilies, three lilies, growing on my grave where no cross stands.”
Michael Cookson
Shostakovich 14th Symphony
