Dvorák/Janácek Songs
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček
Label: Forlane
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 63
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: UCD16746
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
In Folk Tone |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Graham Johnson, Piano Philip Langridge, Tenor |
(4) Songs, Movement: Springtide |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Graham Johnson, Piano Philip Langridge, Tenor |
(4) Songs, Movement: At the brook |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Graham Johnson, Piano Philip Langridge, Tenor |
(7) Gipsy Melodies, 'Zigeunerlieder' |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Graham Johnson, Piano Philip Langridge, Tenor |
(The) Diary of one who disappeared |
Leoš Janáček, Composer
Anita Morrison, Soprano Gail Robertson, Mezzo soprano Graham Johnson, Piano Jean Rigby, Mezzo soprano Leoš Janáček, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Susan Legg, Soprano |
Author: John Warrack
Coupling Dvorak’s Gipsy Melodies with Janacek’s Diary of one who disappeared is good programme planning, for they complement one another in a rewarding manner. Janacek is, of course, rooted in Czech folk style and derives much of his sharpness from the cut and thrust of melodies which Dvorak, despite the sentimental performances he has sometimes received, did not set loosely or softly. His Gipsy Melodies are sharply sung and played here, to their great advantage; and Langridge’s characteristically intelligent grasp of the folk element lying within Janacek’s sequence gives it particular dramatic point.
The music lies well on his voice. The crisp delivery of the opening has a contained lyrical quality which comes to the fore as the gipsy girl gradually turns the boy’s head, with a growing sense of fear and excitement rising to the superbly phrased cry in the sixth song as he admits to the flame searing him. Among the strengths of Langridge’s performance is his ability to contain the emotion within a Lieder convention: an operatic delivery can ruin this marvellous work by overstating and over-dramatizing. Jean Rigby’s approach from a slight distance, her voice lulling and compelling, is skilfully done, and the seduction is tense, its aftermath shadowed with post coitum triste sorrow at the loss of innocence. Graham Johnson handles this delicately; he has the variety of the music, the punching phrases, the lyrical intensity, the lilt that can mark the rhythms, the triumphant assertion of the closing bars. It is good that Langridge has recorded the work with him in its original form; this is preferable to the orchestral version (not, of course, Janacek’s) he recorded with Abbado (DG, 5/89). There need be no question of preference between the new record and the remarkable pairing which sets Nicolai Gedda’s version together with Beno Blachut’s classic performance. Langridge has in him more of Blachut than of Gedda. It is good to have this distinguished performance.'
The music lies well on his voice. The crisp delivery of the opening has a contained lyrical quality which comes to the fore as the gipsy girl gradually turns the boy’s head, with a growing sense of fear and excitement rising to the superbly phrased cry in the sixth song as he admits to the flame searing him. Among the strengths of Langridge’s performance is his ability to contain the emotion within a Lieder convention: an operatic delivery can ruin this marvellous work by overstating and over-dramatizing. Jean Rigby’s approach from a slight distance, her voice lulling and compelling, is skilfully done, and the seduction is tense, its aftermath shadowed with post coitum triste sorrow at the loss of innocence. Graham Johnson handles this delicately; he has the variety of the music, the punching phrases, the lyrical intensity, the lilt that can mark the rhythms, the triumphant assertion of the closing bars. It is good that Langridge has recorded the work with him in its original form; this is preferable to the orchestral version (not, of course, Janacek’s) he recorded with Abbado (DG, 5/89). There need be no question of preference between the new record and the remarkable pairing which sets Nicolai Gedda’s version together with Beno Blachut’s classic performance. Langridge has in him more of Blachut than of Gedda. It is good to have this distinguished performance.'
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