Mimi Ezust writes:

>Has anyone else recorded all of the Rachmaninov Songs, and are they
>available now as a complete set? And do the performers sing with good
>intonation? I can provide the passion, but not the pitch.

I don't have a specific recommendation, except to say that an ideal
complete Rachmaninov songs would not be recorded by one singer, but by
four or five.  Rachmaninov is very specific in the songs as to which voice
type he has in mind.  Sometimes he will offer a choice, as in "soprano or
tenor," but he seems to have written in terms of particular registers, with
the piano writing somewhat more flamboyant for the higher voices than the
lower ones.  I think the songs are on a level with his very finest music,
and should be done more often.  I've done several of the songs for bass and
bass-baritone with my friends Kenneth Cox and Stephen Morscheck, and would
volunteer immediately to record as many Rachmaninov songs as possible.

DPHorn, relaxing after an afternoon of continuo playing for a program of
Bach cantata arias.