Dvorak: In Folk Tone - four songs, Op. 73 (Lieder im Volkston)

"A wholly delectable disc, and one that should win many new friends for these songs in the composer's centenary year." CHORAL & SONG DISC OF THE MONTH, BBC Music Magazine, August 2004

“An all-Dvorák song recital may still seem a luxury.
The Gypsy Songs, and not just their famous fourth ('Songs my mother taught me'), have found a secure place in the repertoire, but not much else is heard at all regularly either in recital or on disc.
They may lack the variety of mood to constitute a fully satisfying programme on their own, but they never fail to give pleasure. One cause of the continued unfamiliarity of the B160 set is that Czech is an alien language to most recitalists. Not, however, to the Argentinian mezzo Bernarda Fink, who comes from a Slovenian family, lived in Prague for a while and has made a special study of Czech music. Her diction is very clear. Her tone is rich and deep, and the manner has warmth and dignity, though these seem to be its limits. If you come to the Gypsy Songs with Anne Sofie von Otter's recording in mind, you'll miss, in Fink's singing, a lot of colour, imagination and temperament.
But there may be some relief, too. Her recording with Bengt Forsberg is exciting but assertive. Fink and Vignoles may prove more companionable. But this new issue is most welcome: tasteful and often lovely performances and a generously comprehensive selection.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…in Dvořák's anniversary year, the unmistakable and irresistible character of Popp's voice, by turns radiant and rueful, buoyant and melancholy, wonderfully recreates something at the very heart of the composer's settings of three Slovak folk poems which she included in her 1980 Edinburgh Festival programme with Geoffrey Parsons.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2004 ****

“These four cycles make an excellent and generous coupling, with Dagmar Pecková, brilliantly supported by Irwin Gage, a most persuasive advocate. Hers is an ideal voice, unmistakably Slavonic in timbre, yet firm and pure as well as rich. She retains a freshness specially apt for the songs inviting a girlish manner, including Dvorák's most famous song, the fourth of the seven Gypsy Melodies, 'Songs my mother taught me', sounding fresh and new.
The four cycles represent the full span of Dvorák's career. The eight Love Songs, B160 may officially date from 1888, but Dvorák in fact reworked a selection from 18 songs he'd written passionately at high speed over 20 years earlier – charming pieces which already reveal his unquenchable lyrical gift. Next chronologically are the Gypsy Songs of 1800, bold and colourful, here nicely contrasted by Pecková and Gage with four simpler, less exotic songs, In Folk Tone, of six years later. Last and longest is the cycle of ten Biblical Songs, written in the United States in 1894, when he was feeling homesick. They are more often sung by male singers, gaining from weight and gravity, but here with the mezzo, Pecková, they prove just as moving and intense.
The sound is clear and well balanced.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010