Page 478 - Revelation

Svetlana de Rohan-Levashova. Revelation

on TV, but that did not mean that she was insufficiently talented. Too often, a gift or a
talent matters less in the modern world than who’s son or daughter you are, or how
much money is in your pocket, or what "uncle" or "aunt" stands behind you. This is
how the things were in Soviet times and this is exactly how they are now. Nothing
changed whatsoever. I do not describe Svetlana as a talented singer to praise and
idealize her, not at all! There are facts that confirm it. When the Lithuanian audience
th
chose ten hits of the 20 century, two of her songs got onto the list, one of which
occupied the top spot in the ranking! It was people’s hearts responding to her song that
voted for it.

She left the stage at the peak of her popularity as a singer because of her former
husband’s treachery who composed the songs and was her guitar accompanist. Only a
very strong person is capable of doing such a thing! There are stars which repeatedly
announce their retirement from the stage but are still there, despite there being little
remaining of what they were in the days when their creativity bloomed, that is if they
were anything at all to begin with.
I often asked Svetlana to sing something for me, but she always replied – some
day, later. And now this "later" will never come. To tell the truth I did hear her voice
on a vinyl record. It happened in 1997. I had the record but nothing to play it on.
Therefore, I went on a search for a good record player and found just what I needed!
With impatience I put the record on the turntable, the needle slowly went down onto
the black surface of the disk and… I heard nothing. Only when I bent over the player
very closely, almost sticking my ear into it, could I hear a low singing. Examination of
the player showed the absence of an amplifier – I had bought just the "wheels".

Her voice purred very gently and low like a crystal-pure brook and I wanted to
hear it loudly in all its beauty as quickly as possible. At once I went to buy the missing
parts and returned with a very good "Sony" music system which had an amplifier and
powerful speakers. I messed about with it long enough, assembling it and connecting
the record player to it, and finally I could make myself comfortable and listen. The
needle of the record player was new and of high sensitivity and when it touched the
record, I submerged into Svetlana’s singing. Some damage to the disc created noise;
nevertheless a very tender, gentle and light voice was streaming out of the speakers.
My heart ached at once; I felt incredible warmth and sadness. I did not understand the
words of the song which she sang in Lithuanian, but the tender sadness of it touched
the very remote corners of my soul. Over time I knew the words and understood the
reason for my sadness.
Later I brought the vinyl record to a sound recording studio to convert it into a
СD. I also asked them to remove the noise from the record, and after a while I could
listen to Svetlana’s voice in its primeval beauty. It is of interest that Svetlana sang this
one in very low voice, but not because her voice was weak, by no means, but because
she was singing a lullaby. She has a very good, operatic voice, but exactly her softly
quiet singing flowed into me like light and with unbelievable tenderness. When
Svetlana was far away from me, I listened to her songs, especially the lullaby, over and
over again, and her singing always filled my heart with boundless sadness. Certainly,
"tastes differ", but I think that in this case the matter is not only in my perception.

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