
Listen to this for: something a little different and more modern: piano works and song
You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to track down Yuriy Mynenko. For someone who has such a fabulous voice – his Megabise in Artaserse was immensely impressive – he hasn’t recorded very much at all and, although he has a website, it doesn’t seem to list any forthcoming concert dates. I eventually found this album of piano music by the Belgian composer Lodewijk Mortelmans (1868-1952), which features three songs performed by Mynenko: Hoe schoon de morgendauw, Perels and Als de ziele luistert. Huge credit for not only singing in Dutch but making it sound beautiful.
It’s just a taster of his voice, unfortunately, but its power and grandeur come through very clearly and I really hope he gets round to recording more Baroque music. I should add that the pure piano tracks, performed by Peter Vanhove, are also wonderful to listen to: fluid, sweeping and very relaxing (perfect listening for a lazy Sunday breakfast). But if anyone knows of anywhere I can find more Mynenko, I’ll be grateful.

Yuriy’s Dutch is near perfect. Which is quite a feat as it is notoriously difficult to get it sounding even tolerably right. Unlike most countertenors, Yuriy has done a lot of post baroque performances. The main reason there are still few recordings is the rather petty notion Yuriy wasn’t/isn’t all that marketable being a Ukrainian.
Even so, there are a few more recordings by now:
Plus 2 dvd sets: 1 quite obscure, Glinka, Ruslan and Lyudmila, and 2, Rimski Korsakov, The Snow Maiden (2021).
Yuriy and his wife and children (Son and daughter) have suffered greatly since the onset of the Russian invasion. Their home in Odessa was bombed, the daughter traumatized and to get an exit visa proved more and more difficult. After a prolongeert ordeal, he now resides in Switzerland with wife and daughter. Careerwise, he is doing better than ever. His voice is still as unique and wonderful as it ever was.
Best wishes from the Netherlands, Chris
PS Just a few weeks ago, Yuriy opened his own YouTube channel. Personally, I find this Silvestrov lament very moving: https://youtu.be/9GA-2G3GLbk?feature=shared