Asmik Grigorian - Dissonance - Limelight

Devotees of Russian song with a preference for tear-stained, despair-drenched, heart-on-sleeve emotion will find much to relish in Dissonance, the debut solo recital by the Lithuanian-born, Armenian-descended soprano Asmik Grigorian.

Note the title. Grigorian, a fast-emerging figure on international opera stages with a growing reputation for the ferocious heat and burning drama of her performances, takes it at face value. And stays true to its pulse-quickening, heart-aching turbulence in a recital marked by a scorching intensity of feeling and elevated by her clear-sighted treatment of conflicting emotions contesting for a comforting heart and compassionate ear.

Grigorian, together with her expressive accompanist, the Muscovite Lukas Geniušas, both technically well-equipped, expressively nuanced and wonderfully reciprocal, delivers the most rewarding (if exhausting) of recitals.