Olga Borodina / Dmitri Yefimov - Barbican, 7 October 2011
Which Russian diva is sticking to her red bikini briefs - even if they do only make them in extra-small these days?
Step forward Olga Borodina, who clearly doesn't care who knows what pants she wears. Appropriately enough it was the Mighty Handful who provided the music for the first half of her all-Russian programme. In front of an enthusiastic but sparse, student-padded crowd, the Mighty Mezzo demonstrated that a technique of awesome solidity can encompass any vocal challenge. Her dark, fruited tones remain juicily plump and capable of infinite shading. She brought seriousness of purpose to Pushkin settings like Cui's Desire and Rimsky's Clouds Begin to Shatter and a Carmen-like eroticism to Balakirev's Spanish Song.
More of the Hispanic allure which seems to lie so naturally within her voice came in her second half pick of Shostakovich's Spanish Songs. Far from the doughty glumness of his symphonies, these playful numbers demand a sensuous intensity that Borodina was able to provide without a hint of caricature. She ended with three 20th century songs by Georgy Sviridov, whose work inflects an essentially conservative idiom with a pronounced folk flavour. Again Borodina's sincerity was unquestionable, and what might sound like picture-postcard music in other hands was elevated to the momentous. Much credit was also due to Dmitri Yefimov, who provided instinctively shaded accompaniment of exquisite taste and balance.
What a shame so few people forked out for tickets - the combination of the economy and the Barbican's new overpricing is clearly beginning to bite.