Dvorak: Songs My Mother Taught Me, Op. 55 No. 4

Soprano superstar Anna Netrebko steps away from the operatic stage to create her most personal and intimate album yet. Souvenirs is a gorgeous collection of short and sparkling pieces that allow Anna to display her amazing voice and temperament

“This recording is like a bridal bouquet, bursting with variety and colours,” says Anna Netrebko. “I want it to create a wonderful array of emotions – passion, fun, love, tenderness.”

The album includes repertoire from all over the world: songs in French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Latin, Czech, Yiddish, Spanish and – of course – Russian. These are pieces that are very close to Anna’s heart and include treasures by Dvorák, Grieg, Carlos Guastavino, Reynaldo Hahn, Offenbach, Richard Strauss, as well as rarely performed songs by Rimsky-Korsakov. For this special project, Anna is accompanied by conductor Emmanuel Villaume and the Prague Philharmonia. Villaume is well-known as the director of the Spoleto Festival (USA) and is a regular guest at major opera houses such as the Teatro La Fenice and the Met. He has previously worked with Anna in concert and is a perfect match for her passionate artistry. On this album Anna Netrebko has a few stunning guests to partner with her: Elina Garanca for Offenbach's Barcarole, Andrew Swait for Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Pie Jesu” (Requiem), Piotr Beczala for Heuberger's “Im Chambre Séparée”. Stunningly talented, gorgeous and intelligent, Netrebko already has the music world at her feet making this one of THE albums of 2008, eagerly awaited by her legions of fans as well as all music lovers worldwide.

Anna Netrebko’s first live solo album and first Lieder album is accompanied by star conductor/pianist Daniel Barenboim. This was the concert event of the Salzburg Festival 2009 and your first Deutsche Grammophon priority of the year.

For her Salzburg recital, Anna Netrebko programmed an all Russian evening. Companioned by Barenboim’s masterful, idiomatic playing, Anna’s voluptuous voice surrenders completely to the haunting, soulful melodies of songs by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and others.

On the heels of her successful Russian Album – more than 270,000 copies sold and still selling strong – In the Still of Night is certain to soar.

We were delighted when the internationally renowned soprano Christine Brewer agreed to record some of her favourite repertoire pieces on her first recital disc for Chandos in 2005. No surprise that it was a huge success – so we were even more delighted when she returned to record this second volume – repertoire which you would never hear in a single concert or operatic performance, but here capturing Brewer’s glorious range, wonderfully supported by Judith Howarth, Timothy Robinson and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Parry.

Christine Brewer’s earlier recital (CHAN3127) introduced into this series the dramatic soprano voice and included in its programme, as does its successor, arias from Gluck’s Alceste and Wagner’s Tannhäuser. In a previous age both operas were sung by Kirsten Flagstad, by general consent the greatest heroic-dramatic soprano of all. Christine Brewer now adds one of the most formidable challenges in the repertoire, Leonore’s solo in Act I of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Otherwise, the two significant extensions are in time, backward to Handel and forward to Britten and Menotti.

Soprano superstar Anna Netrebko steps away from the operatic stage to create her most personal and intimate album yet. Souvenirs is a gorgeous collection of short and sparkling pieces that allow Anna to display her amazing voice and temperament

“This recording is like a bridal bouquet, bursting with variety and colours,” says Anna Netrebko. “I want it to create a wonderful array of emotions – passion, fun, love, tenderness.”

The album includes repertoire from all over the world: songs in French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Latin, Czech, Yiddish, Spanish and – of course – Russian. These are pieces that are very close to Anna’s heart and include treasures by Dvorák, Grieg, Carlos Guastavino, Reynaldo Hahn, Offenbach, Richard Strauss, as well as rarely performed songs by Rimsky-Korsakov. For this special project, Anna is accompanied by conductor Emmanuel Villaume and the Prague Philharmonia. Villaume is well-known as the director of the Spoleto Festival (USA) and is a regular guest at major opera houses such as the Teatro La Fenice and the Met. He has previously worked with Anna in concert and is a perfect match for her passionate artistry. On this album Anna Netrebko has a few stunning guests to partner with her: Elina Garanca for Offenbach's Barcarole, Andrew Swait for Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Pie Jesu” (Requiem), Piotr Beczala for Heuberger's “Im Chambre Séparée”. Stunningly talented, gorgeous and intelligent, Netrebko already has the music world at her feet making this one of THE albums of 2008, eagerly awaited by her legions of fans as well as all music lovers worldwide.

Cap Box / Limited Edition: This will be the perfect Christmas gift package for the fans. It will have CD + booklet, bonus DVD, postcards and poster. A MUST HAVE!

Magdalena Kožená, one of the most acclaimed recitalists of today, presents a personal collection of songs she has known since childhood and that form some of her earliest musical influences.

A haunting collection of songs by Czech composers such as Dvorák, Janácek, Martinu, Schulhoff and Eben, all deeply rooted in the rich Czech folk song tradition.

Like Magdalena explains in the press/booklettext about the songs on the album: “They are just the sort a mother would sing to her baby. My mother is not a professional singer, but she loved to sing and knew a lot of songs! There is a particular tradition of singing to children in our country, much stronger, I would say, than one sees any more in the West. It was really important that in each family these songs would be handed down, taught to the children.”

Kožená’s musical partners on the album include her long-standing recital partner Malcolm Martineau, and soprano Dorothea Röschmann, who joins her in Dvorák’s Moravian duets. This is Magdalena Kožená’s most personal album so far, exploring the richness of her cultural background and her own musical memories.