Kodály: Hungarian Folk Songs (Magyar népdalok)

Born in Budapest to a Russian mother and a Hungarian father, Polina Pasztircsák began singing and playing the flute at an early age. She studied voice with Julia Bikfalvy while also studying at the West Hungarian University, from which she graduated with a degree in cultural management. Later she studied with Mirella Freni in Vignola and Modena and at the Conservatorio Frescobaldi in Ferrara, as well as taking advanced classes with Adrienne Csengery, Edda Moser and Evgenij Nesterenko.

In 2004, she won the Josef Szimandy Competition in Szeged, Hungary and was a semi-finalist in the 2007 Renata Tebaldi Competition in San Marino. Polina made her debut at the Modena Theatre in 2007 by performing in a new opera by Lorenza Ferrero.

In 2009 Polina Pasztircsák won the voice competition in Geneva, capturing the First Prize [€20.000], and three special prizes: the audience prize [€3.000], the Cercle du Grand Théatre [a lead role at the Geneva Opera] and the Coup de coeur Breguet [the recording of this CD]. She played Micaëla (Carmen) in 2009 in a production directed by Juraj Valčuha and then the same year she debuted in the role of Mimì in Budapest Montre Breguet and the Geneva Competition are proud to contribute to the revelation of young virtuosos who will undoubtedly leave their mark on culture and on the history of music.

Polina Pasztircsák moved all present with her talents at the 64th Geneva event and with that the financial support for this disc: a selection of pieces from three very different European traditions.

Soprano Lucia Popp (1939-1993) was one of the most acclaimed singers of her generation. In this four-CD set she is heard in arias from operas by Weber, Mozart, Lortzing, Puccini, Verdi, Massenet and Monteverdi, songs by Brahms, Mahler, Prokofiev, Dvorak, Kodaly, Janacek, and sacred music by Telemann and Bach.

After making her debut at the Vienna State Opera in the modest role of Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro, Lucia Popp worked with all the great conductors of her day including Leonard Bernstein, Sir George Solti, Rafael Kubelik, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Bernard Haitink and Carlos Kleiber. The State Operas of Vienna and Munich honoured Lucia Popp with the title of Kammersängerin and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra awarded her the “Silver Rose”. In 2007 she was placed 7th on BBC Music Magazine's list ‘20 All-time Best Sopranos’ based on a poll of 21 British critics and BBC presenters.