Helios: CDH55270

‘A rare opportunity to sample Chopin the song composer, here performed with real feeling by Polish mezzo Urszula Kryger. The dark core of melancholy in Kryger’s voice is fine-tuned to the Slavic melodic contours of a song like The Sad Stream. And her instinctive grasp of both musical and verbal inflection makes for a beautifully understated performance of Melodya, Chopin’s last, heartfelt song of exile’ (Gramophone)

“Chopin's songs might struggle to secure a regular place in the repertoire but at budget price there's no excuse not to encounter a master miniaturist painting on less familiar canvasses.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ***