Customer Reviews

Songs My Mother Taught Me ~ Kozena

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I'm not quite ready to believe that Magdalena Kozena's mommy really taught her songs by Janácek, Novák, Dvorák, Martinu, Schulhoff, and Petr Eben. Still, if Pani Kozena had anything to do with teaching her daughter to sing, for me that would be honorable enough. Magdalena Kozena has one of the richest voices of our times. Don't take my word for it! Consider that Reinhard Goebel, the supreme violinist of the century, has only ever made one 'showcase' recording for a soprano, a CD titled "Lamento" with Kozena.

[Inserted later: Wrong again, Bruno! To the stake with you! Goebel has also made a CD with Anne Sophie Mutter, titled "Lamenti." One might begin to suppose that Herr Goebel needs a serotonin uptake inhibitor. However, IMHO, just listening to the samples of the two laments should be enough to impress anyone with the superiority of Kozena's voice and tecjnique.]

This performance of Czech and Moravian "folk" songs includes several miniature masterpieces by the most sophisticated composers of the land. The Dvorak duets are possibly his best music ever, and if you've heard the common assertion that Leos Janacek uniquely captured the rhythms and syntax of the Czech language, you'll find confirmation here. Yes, the folk roots of Czech music are certainly exposed in these songs, but the songs themselves are the freshest blossoms on the highest branches.

A previous reviewer complained that all the songs sounded much alike. I suppose they do; there's no mistaking their origins. But all Bach chorales sound Lutheran, and all the great blues are based on the same four chords. One isn't required to listen to all the tracks on the CD in uninterrupted sequence merely as a consequence of purchase.

And Kozena sings these songs with such passionate affection for them that one might think her mother had taught them to her!

Ms. Kozena has a distinctively `Central European' voice. The timbre is lyrical and full, without being dull. This album of Dvorak's vocal works undoubtedly suits her well.
Kozena is not only able to give an authentic account of these works, but also much emotional involvement. The 3 Gypsy Melodies are very sentimental and movingly done. The well-known title song "Songs My Mother Taught Me" is full of filial yearning and rightfully appeals to listeners of whatever race or nationality. I have for long been listening to a Chinese version with modern arrangement set to have moving text, and this original version is doubtlessly more than welcome.
In the 3 Moravian Duets, Ms. Kozena employs quite another method of interpretation, and draws on more pathos and broader resonances. The partnership of Dorothea Roeschmann is simply superb in these tracks. While Kozena and Roeschmann have not yet make a full recording of these songs as did Irmgard Seefried and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf before them, I really do look forward to hearing her full set of Moravian Songs.
Song lovers would surely enjoy such beautiful singing.
Heartily recommended.

The previous reviewer is mistaken in calling this a recital of Dvorak's vocal works. Other composers are included -- Janacek, Martinu, Schulhoff, Novak, and Eben. All their divergent styles are lost in the same relatively simple folksong idiom, and that's the problem. If Kozena had found 34 interesting Czech folksongs, I might have been happy. But here we get 34 repetitious folksongs, none of which rises any higher than the others (excepting a few composed melodies and the Moravian duets from Dvorak). There's a noble tradition of gathering and preserving folk material, but Brahms himself couldn't make three dozen 'Deutches Volkslieder' sound interesting from beginning to end, and those were twice as captivating as what we have on this CD.

In addition, Kozena seems content to remain in a relaxed, sentimental mood throuhgout. Her voice is too uniform, and she lacks the temperament to sell these songs to an audience who has never heard them before. Certainly, despite some winning moments here and there, she didn't sell them to me.