Magdalena Kožená mezzo-soprano; Malcolm Martineau piano

Magdalena Kožená opens her recital with songs in her mother tongue. The Czech mezzo-soprano, born in Janáček’s home town, has few equals when it comes to touching the spirit and soul of his music. She and Malcolm Martineau move from a selection of Janáček’s haunting love songs to a sequence of pieces from the Mörike Lieder, Hugo Wolf’s first great song collection. Vivid contrasts and striking imagery permeate their recital’s second half, crowned by the songs Schoenberg wrote in 1901 for Berlin’s Überbrettl cabaret.