Elena Frolova, one of my favourite singers, is an actor of the Theater of Elena Kamburova and well-known among singers-songwriters. She is not popular with wide audience, which is natural – her songs do not belong to those rotated on FM-stations.   

  Why I think her CD can truly enrich your collection? Virtuoso guitar performance, playing the the Russian psaltery - gusli and Scythian harp, miraculous voice and impeccable taste – this is all about Elena Frolova. Being a prolific author, she releases new CDs every year and every time the singer graces her audience with new findings – self-written songs, Russian Silver Age poems set to music, Russian folk songs, church verses performed on gusli. There’s a good chance to find something to your taste.

  I found out one wonderful thing about the poems of Russian Silver Age poets (A.Akhmatova, O.Mandelshtam, M.Tsvetaeva, A.Tarkovskij, A.Blok) and the modern poets (J.Brodsky and L.Gubanov and others) set to Frolova’s music.  I read some of them before but I rarely "felt” them, frankly speaking I hardly knew them, just loved a few learnt by heart at school. That is why Frolova’s songs turned out a new poetic treasure chest; they discovered a new world of poetry for me. Moreover, they seem to sound "in the right way” (if only you can apply such expression to the poems and music) - the way, I think, the poets might have wished them to sound as if the poems were originally written for the music.  

  However, if it were not for Elena’s voice, you would never be captured by the whirlwind of emotions expressed. Her deep voice is full of sadness, love, tenderness, hope, it takes your breath away and touches you greatly. Besides, it is combined with flawless guitar performance. If only poems could have their own sound, this voice would be perfect.

  Don’t turn on Elena Frolova’s songs, if you are bothered with some chores or want to relax. But if you can spare at least 15 minutes, you will absorb in the charming world of the music "that washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” (Berthold Auerbach, German novelist). Tune your mind to listening and you will hear the real MUSIC of POETRY.