Lettera amorosa is the name of a song by Monteverdi, but in
plural form it provides an apposite title for this collection of
Italian love songs from the 17th century. “I grew up with this music,
and wanted to come back to it”, says Magdalena Kožená. As a result of
the weight accorded to music education in communist Czechoslovakia, she
was just six when she joined the Children’s Choir at the Philharmonic
of her native Brno, where this repertoire was part of the programme.
When she was 16 and studying at the conservatory in Brno, she teamed up
with a lutenist to perform secular songs by Monteverdi and his
compatriots, and revelled in the creative freedom their music allowed
her.
“I find its simplicity very attractive”, she says. “And a simple song
can go very deep. This music speaks to people who don’t regard
themselves as classical specialists. It comes from a time when there was
no equivalent to our divide between classical and pop music: it was
simply the music everybody heard and sang. Some of these songs would
have been performed in churches, but some are street music, and others
were just intended for people to come together and play, rather than
perform for an audience. It’s very much ensemble music, rather than
about who is going to shine the brightest, and be the star. Because
these songs are not difficult technically, one is able to get closer to
the essence of what music is about. This is liberating: you’re singing
for your own pleasure.” Finding the right ensemble with whom to record
was crucial. The singer particularly liked the undogmatic approach of
Private Musicke, and the effects it generated through its imaginative
use of plucked and bowed period instruments. “The basic assumption with
this repertoire is that everybody is free to make their own
arrangements, and decide which instruments they will use. We
experimented with a lot of different arrangements in concerts before
the recording – and this is a freedom we are no longer used to in
classical music. It’s got nothing to do with the usual rehearsed
approach, where you try to perform it exactly the way you prepared it.
It’s a completely different way of thinking about music.” They decided
to switch the focus away from Monteverdi – who makes just one
appearance – on to songs which many listeners will never have heard.
This is a repertoire whose daring dissonances are sometimes closer to
modern music than Handel, Vivaldi or even the Romantics. The
instrumental selections recorded by Pierre Pitzl and his Private
Musicke ensemble agreeably reinforce the period colour.
(Michael Church)
Magdalena Kožená's multi-lingual recital shows this singer's formidable
talent for performing widely varying musical styles. Beginning with her
idiomatic French (of which we had a substantial sampling on her
previous French arias disc . . . she uses her light but well-placed and
penetrating mezzo to illuminate Ravel's seductive Madagascar Songs.
Listen to how Kožená creates a nearhypnotic effect with her passionate
repeated cries of "Nahandove". In Shostakovich's Satires (5 Romances
for Soprano and Piano ) Kožená embodies the composer's varied emotional
states, from bemusement to sarcasm, and, in the concluding "Kreutzer
Sonata", repressed frenzy . . . After Shostakovich's sharp edges,
Respighi's lush romantic rhapsody "Il Tramonto" allows Kožená the
opportunity to luxuriate in long, expansive melodic lines as well as in
the resonance of pure Italianate vowels, for which the singer provides
an engaging fullness of tone and depth of expression. From this we turn
to Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" (for mezzo-soprano, violin, and
piano), which begins with a lazy, quasi blues song about the sea and
ends in a Debussian impressionistic haze. Kožená's creamy tone and
gentle delivery make even the German language sound soft and inviting.
In Britten's "Charm of Lullabies" . . . her sincerity and unerring
musical instincts shine through, communicating the power and poignancy
of Britten's songs. The well-chosen selections offer a variety of
accompaniments, from the flute, cello, and piano trio in the Ravel, to
the string quartet in the Respighi, with Malcom Martineau's sensitive
pianism providing fundamental support throughout. DG's recording
provides vividly realistic sonics, placing the singer and
instrumentalists in natural, well-balanced perspective. In sum, this is
an excellent recital disc that will please connoisseurs of the voice as
well as collectors of uncommon repertoire.
