Frédéric Chopin - Polish Songs (Urszula Kryger; Charles Spencer)

Information

Composer: Frédéric Chopin

1. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 2. Wiosna (Spring)
2. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 5. Gdzie lubi (There where she loves)
3. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 4. Hulanka (Drinking song)
4. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 16. Piosenka litewska (Lithuanian song)
5. Czary (Witchcraft), KK IVa/11
6. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 8. Śliczny Chłopiec (Handsome lad)
7. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 1. Życzenie (Maiden's wish)
8. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 12. Moja pieszczotka (My darling)
9. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 6. Precz z moich oczu! (Out of my sight!)
10. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 10. Wojak (The warrior)
11. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 17. Śpiew z mogiłky (Hymn from the tomb)
12. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 7. Poseł (The messenger)
13. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 14. Pierścień (The ring)
14. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 15. Narzeczony (The bridegroom)
15. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 3. Smutna rzeka (Sad river)
16. Dumka (Reverie), KK IVb/9
17. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 11. Dwojaki koniec (The double end)
18. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 13. Nie ma czego trzeba (Faded and vanished)
19. Polish Songs, Op. 74: 9. Melodia
20. Pauline Viardot - Plainte d'amour (from Chopin's Mazurka in F sharp minor, Op. 6 No. 1)
21. Pauline Viardot - Faible cœur (from Chopin's Mazurka in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3)
22. Pauline Viardot - Berceuse (from Chopin's Mazurka in C minor, Op. 33 No. 3)
23. Pauline Viardot - La fête (from Chopin's Mazurka in E flat minor, Op. 6 No. 4)
24. Pauline Viardot - La danse (from Chopin's Mazurka in G major, Op. 50 No. 1)

Urszula Kryger, mezzo-soprano

Charles Spencer, piano

Date: 1999

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Chopin never considered himself a serious composer of songs. Of the 30 or so he wrote, none was published during his lifetime, and only 19 (two based on the same Zaleski poem) are still in existence. For this recital, the entire oeuvre has been arranged by the performers into two impressively coherent Liederkreise, the first a loose ‘cycle’ of love songs; the second focusing on more heroic themes, some in the tradition of folksong or ballad. The disc also includes five of Chopin’s mazurkas in arrangements by the great 19th-century mezzo Pauline Viardot, who commissioned words from a French poet and embellished the music with her own florid ornamentation and cadenzas.

Perhaps inevitably, the piano is to the fore in these songs, and Charles Spencer’s virtuosic performance makes a compelling case for them, especially such pieces as the Schubertian ‘Wojak’, with its galloping rhythm depicting the warrior of the title as he rides off to battle, or the disquieting ‘Narzeczony’ (‘The Bridegroom’) with its atmosphere of ‘Erlkönig’, and a prelude that looks forward in style to Mussorgsky.

Urszula Kryger has that quintessentially Slavonic, rather silvery soprano, with an impressive mezza voce, that is touchingly expressive in the melancholic, elegiac songs, but not quite robust enough in the tougher, more dramatic roles.

— Claire Wrathall

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Frédéric Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish Romantic composer and virtuoso pianist. A prodigy from Warsaw, he moved to Paris at 21, where he spent the rest of his short life. Although often in poor health, he produced a remarkable body of piano-centered works, including nocturnes, mazurkas, waltzes, polonaises, études and two piano concertos. His music, which is known for technical brilliance and innovative harmony, helped shape musical nationalism and late-Romantic style. Chopin's iconic status, dramatic life, and early death made him one of the enduring symbols of the Romantic era.

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Urszula Kryger (born 20 April 1964) is a Polish mezzo-soprano and pianist. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Łódź, she furthered her vocal studies in Copenhagen. Kryger gained international recognition after winning several prestigious vocal competitions in the early 1990s and has since performed at leading venues. Specializing in lyric, chamber and oratorio repertoire, she has collaborated with renowned conductors and musicians worldwide. She has received multiple Fryderyk Awards and the Karol Szymanowski Foundation Award for her recordings. Since 2002, she has taught at the Academy in Łódź.

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Charles Spencer (born 1955) is an English collaborative pianist and educator. Born in Yorkshire, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London before continuing his training in Vienna, where he received the Austrian Government's Prize for Artistic Merit. Spencer gained international acclaim through performances with renowned vocalists, particularly his long-standing collaboration with Christa Ludwig, as well as many other distinguished singers. Since 1999, he has served as Professor of Lied Interpretation at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, while also teaching masterclasses annually.

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