Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
Folk Songs
Czech Philharmonic/Sir Simon Rattle
rec. 2020-23, Dvořák Hall, Rudolfinum, Prague
Sung texts with English translations enclosed.
Reviewed as download from press preview
Pentatone PTC5187075 [52]
Born in Brno in the former Czechoslovakia in 1973, Magdalena Kožená had a rapid rise to stardom and signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon while still in her twenties. She started out in the Baroque repertoire under the guidance of Reinhard Goebel and other HIP-oriented conductors, and has been wise to remain within the boundaries of the 18th century. A few excursions into heavier fare can be noted, most controversially, perhaps, her Carmen a decade ago with Jonas Kaufmann, but here, too, she strives towards a lighter approach in the spirit of the ópera-comique repertoire that Célestine Galli-Marié probably also encompassed – and it has paid dividends. Her voice is practically unscathed by the ravages of time. It has a somewhat wider vibrato since I last heard her, but that is certainly not unbecoming in this repertoire.
In the foreword to this issue, Ms Kožená remembers her youth in Moravia when her mother used to sing the local folk songs, which still are very much alive in villages and part of local tradition. Even though she doesn’t sing any songs from her own upbringing on this disc, she concludes: “I think it is essential that folksongs remain an inseparable part of our cultural heritage and I hope you will be inspired by them and love them as much as I do.”
She presents a wide spectrum of songs here, beginning with those by Béla Bartók, who was an avid collector of folk music, not only from his native Hungary but also from adjacent cultures. The five songs here were composed in 1929, and are very varied. His tonal language was at the time harmonically very harsh. In Prison is, understandably, sad and monotonous, beginning softly but developing arch-shaped to a dynamic climax and then back again. Kožená is very expressive here. Old Lament is gloomy but Yellow Pony, Harness Jingling is light and jolly, and the instrumentation is great fun. Complaint is sad but the concluding Virág’s lamps are burning brightly is lively and boisterous.
Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs is forever associated with Cathy Berberian, the dedicatee and at the time (1964) Berio’s wife. She was American but of Armenian heritage and as a tribute to her Berio
begins the cycle with two American songs, followed by an Armenian one. France, several Italian regions and finally Azerbaijan provide material for the rest, including a couple from the Auvergne, the sparsely populated region in France, from which Canteloube collected material for his famous set of songs, Chants d’Auvergne, completed in 1955. One of them is also included in Berio’s work.
It goes without saying that Berberian’s recording is in a division of its own, but that doesn’t mean that later recordings by definition must be inferior. I have a wonderful recording with Dutch mezzo-soprano Jard van Nes, whom I also heard live, and Kožená’s readings are without doubt her equal. Her singing is very often refreshingly free from the influence of traditional academic education and, for instance, in May the Lord Send Fine Weather she applies dark, powerful chest notes like a blues artist or a fado singer. This recording is filled with delicacy as well as ecstasy, and wild virtuosity, while the final Azerbaijan Love Song is really exhilarating. I also have to commend the soloists of the Czech Philharmonic.
Ravel’s Five Greek Folk Melodies came into being for a very special occasion. A lecture on Greek folk songs at the Sorbonne in 1904, needed to have someone to sing them, and the singer in question needed to have piano accompaniments. Ravel was asked to provide them, which he did promptly – unusual for him – and in due time he orchestrated the first and last of them, while his pupil Manuel Rosenthal orchestrated the rest in the 1930s. Kožená again applies a folk singer’s attitude to her interpretations with excellent results. Through the years there have been numerous recordings. Frederica von Stade made an all-Ravel disc when she was at the height of her powers that is highly recommendable in every respect. The hang-up is that she only recorded the first and last of these five songs, i.e. those two that Ravel himself orchestrated. Some ten years ago former Cardiff Singer of the World Winner, Nicole Cabell, included all five in a mixed French recital (review). She sings them with the original piano accompaniments and they are valuable alternatives to Kožená’s.
Montsalvatge’s Canciones negras has been another of my favourite songs for many years. It was in fact Tereza Berganza who introduced me to the Catalan composer at an unforgettable concert with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm in the early 1970s. It seems that she never recorded the songs with orchestra, only the original piano version with her then husband Felix Lavilla as accompanist. It is a marvellous recording, but the orchestra version, from 1949, gives the extra sting that elevates the music somewhat further, and here the partnership of Kožená-Rattle-Czech Phil is at its most magical. The most beautiful of lullabies, Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito, is a gentle caress on the cheek and Canto negro an eruption of uninhibited joy. This is a winner – a life- enhancing experience of which I wish every music lover could be a part.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
5 Hungarian Folk Songs, BB 108, Sz. 101 (1929)
1 No. 1, A tömlöcben (In Prison)
2 No. 2, Régi keserves (Old Lament)
3 No. 3, Sárga csikó, csengö rajta (Yellow Pony, Harness Jingling)
4 No. 4, Panasz (Complaint)
5 No. 5, Virágéknál ég a világ (Virág’s lamps are burning brightly)
Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
Folk Songs (1964)
6 No. 1, Black Is the Colour
7 No. 2, I Wonder as I wander
8 No. 3, Loosin yelav
9 No. 4, Rossignolet du bois
10 No. 5 a la femminisca
11 No. 6, La donna ideale
12 No. 7, Ballo
13 No. 8, Motettu de Tristura
14 No. 9, Malurous qu’o uno fenno
15 No. 10, Lo fiolairé
16 No. 11, Azerbaijan Love Song
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
5 Mélodies populaires grecques (1904-1906)
17 No. 1, Chanson de la mariée
18 No. 2, Là-bas, vers l’eglise
19 No. 3, Quel galant m’est comparable
20 No. 4, Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques
21 No. 5, Tout gai!
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-2002)
5 Canciones negras (1945)
22 No. 1, Cuba dentro de un piano
23 No. 2, Punto de Habanera
24 No. 3, Chévere
25 No. 4, Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito
26 No. 5, Canto negro
