Dvorak: Biblical Songs (10), Op. 99

“her ease and clarity of language are as impressive as her instinctive feel for the modes of expression voiced by such diverse composers as Dvorak, Ravel and Mahler...Kozena encapsulates and conveys the spectrum of moods with a wealth of understanding and apt vocal inflection...There is never any doubt...that Kozena has these songs in her heart and has the wisdom and finesse with which to convey their very essence.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“Throughout the Ruckert-Lieder the diction is excellent, dramatic emphases are absolutely in place and there is, notably in 'Um Mitternacht', some superb legato singing...Dvorak's Biblical Songs are almost entirely excellent...Kozena projects the sincerity of these settings magnificently” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ****

“Kozena revels in [Dvorak's] inexhaustible stream of melody, while Simon Rattle’s Berliners relish his subtle orchestration...though Kozena’s French and German are not as idiomatic as her Czech, she is luminous in expressing the exoticism of Tristan Klingsor’s Shéhérazade poems, and Rückert’s celebration of the natural world.” Sunday Times, 23rd September 2012

“Singing in her native Czech, Kozená transmits a soulfulness that she rarely summons in other repertoire. It’s a question of being “inside the idiom”, and it feeds her performance of Dvorák’s Biblical Songs...The disc is worth buying for these 10 tracks alone, but Kozená also captures the exotic idiom of Ravel’s Shéhérazade” Financial Times, 27th October 2012 ****

“Dvorak’s rarely recorded “Biblical Songs” are impassioned prayers and voluptuous Psalm settings that show off Ms. Kozena’s burnished mezzo. The orchestra sounds splendid in Ravel’s “Shéhérazade”; Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder” call forth a more austere and concentrated mode of expression.” New York Times, 23rd November 2012

“Fink and Kühmeier sing [the Moravian duets] with great verve, avoiding the pitfalls of sentimentality and folksy cuteness that can so easily creep into this music. ...Kühmeier gives a big, passionate performance of the Op 55 Gypsy Songs, while Fink tackles the austere Biblical Songs, written while Dvořák was homesick in the US. They suit her dark tone admirably” The Guardian, 12th April 2012 ****

“Encouraged by Christoph Berner's zesty, colourful accompaniments, Genia Kuhmeier and Bernarda Fink give thoroughly delightful performances, combining eager characterisation...with a crucial sense of spontaneous enjoyment...Kuhmeier catches both the flaring intensity and the nostalgic tenderness of the Gypsy Songs...[Fink] reveals a more impassioned temperament than I had previously suspected.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“What a lovely performance [Fink] gives. Almost all the songs are slow and with a less sensitive interpreter than Fink they can seem dull at times, but not here: calm, soothing, reverential, delicate but not dull...Delights a-plenty come in Moravian Duets, whatever the mood, showing how well two female voices can blend.” International Record Review, June 2012

“Fink has clearly thought through the expressive language of these lovely songs, and Christoph Berner is a near-ideal accompanist. The Moravian Duets...are, over all, the most enjoyable part of this issue: expressive, resonant and brimming over with good humour...The Biblical Songs are delivered with care and sincerity...these well recorded performances have much to recommend them.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ****

“...the opportunity to hear these evocative and melodious miniatures in affectionate and warmly recorded performances from these great musicians should not be passed up lightly.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2010 ****

“…the same vibrant tone, pure intonation and confident musicianship that has thrilled us for many years.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2010

“The inauthentic doesn’t come much more authentic....From the Love Songs, Op 83, the intense “Death reigns in many a human heart” stands out. For the Op 99 Biblical Songs, Suk takes up the viola, but his violin tone is so rich, you could believe he was playing one all along.” Sunday Times, 14th February 2010 ***

“[Martin Anderson] has persuaded Josef Suk to transcribe the songs of his great-grandfather, Antonín Dvořák, for violin and viola, giving new life to these charming but neglected miniatures...A tender and highly personal collection to cherish.” The Observer, 4th July 2010

“This is a particularly fine collection...[Jankova] has a wonderfully free, sweet upper range (she reaches up for high notes exquisitely, without a hint of strain or wobble). Her phrasing too is magically, richly flexible. In short, her vocal colouring is incredibly fresh and young-sounding...Those top notes are really something never to forget. A disc to treasure.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2011

“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

“Jarvi's affectionate reading of this early work brings out the Czech flavours in Dvorak's inspiration and makes light of the continuing Wagner influences...This is a performance to win converts to an underrated work” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***