Customer Reviews

Magdalena Kozená ~ Handel Italian Cantatas / Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski

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I was introduced to Magdalena Kozená's voice through her very nice "Bach Arias" album a couple of years ago. Then, shortly afterwards a good friend of mine told me how wonderful this Handel album also was!

One day, I was riding in a friend's car. He had brought this album solely for me to listen and played track #3 ("Delirio Amoroso, HWV 99: Aria: Un Pensiero Voli In Ciel"). I was instantly convinced!

This whole CD is delightful, a sheer joy! Whenever I try to convince anyone of it's beauty I simply play track #3. It's funny but it always works!!!

Give track #3 a try!...

the title says it all - it really isnt for canary-fanciers. These early Handel pieces are mini-dramas and make fascinating, dramatic and often highly beautiful music, sometimes comparable (as in La Lucrezia) to Dido's lament (in Purcell's opus). Kozena knows that this is dramatic stuff and she really gives her all. This is no early-music milksop business and Minkowsky fans will know exactly what to expect here. I have to say that I was really surprised to hear what Miss Kozena achieves here, after her Bach arias cd. She is a totally different artist - she really has all those colors in her voice. It is true that sometimes there's a rough edge or suspect intonation, but the whole achievement raises her a few leagues in my opinion. Truly fascinating release, and thank you, Minkowsky and Kozena, for the rare opportunity of hearing these works (especially the first one).

I'm not a huge vocal fan but I do generally like Baroque vocal, especially Handel. So I like the fact that the cantatas here are very lyrical with just a touch of drama, all in all not too heavily serious so quite easy to absorb. Kozena's voice is outstanding as usual, one of the best in the business and Minkowski's sprightly accompaniment is very fine. Arguably this must be one of the best Handel Cantatas albums around.

Magdalena Kozena is a current favorite of the classical vocal recording scene, no small feat, with an extensive discography focusing mainly on early and Czech music. There are many pleasures to be had from this recording of three of Handel's Italian solo cantatas. Les Musiciens du Louvre is a superb Baroque ensemble, and its director, Marc Minkowski, has opted for a considerable variety of sound in the continuo that livens the recitatives in particular.

When she is not pressed by the frequently extremely quick tempi or going for too much dramatic weight in the recitatives, Kozena sings with fresh, pleasing tone and considerable fluency in the frequently intricate coloratura passages. Overall two of the cantatas, "Delirio amoroso" and "Tra le fiamme," come off well. The third, "La Lucrezia," of greater emotional range and vocally the most demanding, finds both Kozena and Minkowski going all-out for drama. Kozena's voice is simply not up to the demands she makes on it here, with consequent white, off-pitch and frequently plain unpleasant results. Whether the intended interpretation was her idea, Minkowski's, or a collaboration, it is ill-judged in terms of her particular strengths, and consequently a major blot on an otherwise good recording.

Not alot of this is new to the catalog, but Kozena does a tremendous job. She blows away not only Gens but also the classic Smith, Handel cantata performances. Minkowski does his formitable job (once again). An absolute keeper - buy it!

... the importance of making sure the CD you review matches the one you are listening to. The one in question is by MAGDALENA KOZENA and Marc Minkowski. It will win all the usual awards from Gramophone, BBC Music, Fanfare, etc. and it will of course deserve them. It is not as great as Janet Baker's Lucrezia, nor is Renee Fleming Lotte Lehmann or Roberto Alagna Leopold Simoneau. The best modern recording is what we're after and you cannot go wrong here or with the somewhat harder to find Veronique Gens on Virgin Veritas. A matter of taste between the two, I personally would own both even at full price but the edge to Gens although I find Minkowski's ensemble the more exciting. And exciting is what this music is -- full throttle, red blooded drama that needs all-out vocal performances which are what you'll find here. Kozena a folk singer? Yeah, and I'm Lennox Lewis!

This is a somewhat disappointing recording. The cantatas are interesting, though not Handel in his full glory. The orchestral work is very good. The major problem is Kozena's singing. Despite her lovely voice, much of the vocal work in these pieces sounds artificial and even strained at times. I don't know if this is an effort to duplicate 18th century performance practices or simply to lend a dramatic flavor to the work. Regardless, it doesn't seem to work very well. This is surprising because Kozena's other recordings have shown that she is excellent singer with good artistic judgement.

Oh dear! It would be such a nice collection of rarely heard Handel cantatas if only Kozena didn't try to be a Bartoli or a von Otter! Not being quite in the same league as an artist and personality as the two divas, Kozena tries to infuse these cantatas with pathos and drama using lots of aggressive vocal gestures, but she isn't able to fill these creations with flesh and blood and make them believable (in this repertoire, you'd have to go back to Janet Baker to hear what I mean). So, we have exaggerated recitativi (sometimes to almost grotesque dimensions) and plain - if often ravishingly lovely - singing. I do find her voice mesmerizing when it just flows surrounded with an aura of melancholy (as in some of her earlier discs, including Handel's Dixit Dominus, also under Minkowski), but aggressive outbursts are not her cup of tea. Occasionally there are some mannerisms in the singing too and a rather disconcerting lack of variety of colour. Whatever it is - lack of comfort with the language or simply immaturity, I don't know. First of all she was badly advised and here I can't see anybody else to blame than Minkowski himself. Minkowski likes taking risks and expects his singers to follow his artistic visions. It often produces wonderfully dramatic performances, but this one is simply miscalculated. Kozena's rather delicate voice with this particular melancholic quality does not have the power to express fury and anger as volcanic eruptions. Her new disc with arias by Mozart, Gluck and Myslivecek shows that she is quite capable of expressing those emotions, using much subtler means and making them still eloquent. This new album shows that with different collaborators, who simply let her sing her way, she can bring quite a great deal of not only lovely singing but also some fine - and believable - characterizations.
When asked how she studies new roles, the much lamented Lucia Popp, Kozena's compatriot, said - and it seems like such an obvious truth: (a singer) "cannot reproduce the sound of another, it doesn't ring true and however much you might wish to repeat something a much-admired colleague has done, it never works because each voice is unique" (H.Matheopoulos: Diva. Great Sopranos and Mezzos Discuss their Art, Boston 1991, p.146). There is only one Bartoli, there is only one von Otter. One day there may be only one Kozena if only she can find her real voice, one able to express a wider range of emotions without resorting to some rather unconvincing and vocally dubious means or imitating her great colleagues. There is something of a 'folk singer' in Kozena, the simplicity of her singing and the way she projects her voice make it ideally suited for folk songs. It was that quality that made her Gramophone Award winning disc of Czech Love Songs such a treasure! The new disc (Myslivecek etc.) also brings us closer to what may be her `individual' voice.
For those who are looking for perfect renditions of some of Handel's Italian cantatas there is the magnificent Janet Baker. I don't know about the availability of her superb "Lucrezia" on Philips, but recently EMI reissued two of her earlier recordings with Raymond Leppard, cantatas "Ah, crudel nel pianto mio" and "Armida abbandonata" (EMI 574284). There are a few recordings of single cantatas (by Deborah York and Veronique Gens), but it certainly is not an embarras de richesse - and that's why Kozena's disc, with its mannerisms, is such a missed opportunity... (Kicek)

I like this compact disc enormously. These recordings remind me of several of the passages from Herrmann's cantata MOBY DICK. This is an invigorating and exhilarating recording aesthetically reminiscent of the Unicorn recording. The orchestrations are impeccable and the vocals are flawless. I listen to this CD quite a bit when I am behind the wheel or keyboard. I have rarely come across such an aesthetically pleasing CD such as this. This type of music has to grow on you however.