”The spectre of man’s death hangs over the final movement, a Lento lugubre (‘The Mournful Iron Bells’), and it fell to the Ukrainian baritone Yuriy Yurchuk to take us to its closure. Although this work ends in a kind of solitude it has to go through catastrophe to get there. A wonderfully austere lamentation on the cor anglais preceded Yurhcuk’s devastating first entry – with Kochanovsky uniting the gloom-laden chorus, bereft baritone and harrowing-sounding orchestra towards the Dies Irae. Yurchuk sang with solemnity, and a rich emptiness; the chorus a depth of wordless power to evoke the bells. The resignation at the end had the hollowness of profundity to it.”
”Anush Hovhannisyan molasses-rich soprano and Yuriy Yurchuk’s vehement baritone were ample compensation in this deeply satisfying performance.”
”There was something poignantly contradictory in how the Ukrainian baritone, Yuriy Yurchuk, articulating Russian more clearly than any other soloist, heart-wrenchingly sang of rusty escort bells, their toll resonating for both the misguided and the righteous alike.”
