Listening to the Rattle family folksongs
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Most record reviewers listen to a release no more than one and a half times before making up their minds. Myself, I like to take a little longer. When doubt lingers or expectation is unfulfilled, I’ll return to the record a week later for relistening. It does not always resolve my qualms, and my second impression can often be less positive than the first. But, every now and then, I’m glad I returned.
Nothing seemed to add up on my first encounter with Magdalena Kožená’s trawl through four sets of folk songs…
Read on here.
And here.
In The Critic here.
En francais ici.
In Spanish here.
In Czech here.
Mr. and Mrs. are doing Charpentier’s Médée splendidly in Berlin at the moment. Bravi!
It sounds like an interesting recording and concept. Three points. First is that a Bartók recording isn’t always to be judged by how much astringency is in the performance (although when the music demands it you’d better have plenty). Consider for example the fairly well-known song, often heard for violin and piano, Este a székelyeknél. Verve yes, astringency no.
Second is that 1933 was indeed emotionally wrenching for Bartók as he realized Germany was now going to be impossible for him, but not necessarily a low point in that it was also the year of considerable personal triumph — many conductors programmed his then-new Piano Concerto No 2, giving the composer some of his first tastes of genuine public and professional acclaim.
Third, what is the empirical basis for the flat statement that “most” record reviewers listen no more than one and one-half times to a new release to make up their minds? I could have been a far more productive reviewer in my day if that had been the case!
Such a pity Mme Kozena did not even bother checking what kind of language she is speaking , regarding the azeri song . For those interested to find out ( as well as the meaning ) you may check the following link: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/bu-gun-ayin-ucudur-today-third-month.html
And here is the original version of the song :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYhTIOLdgs
Enjoy !
Both of your links are “not found.” If I recall correctly, Berio didn’t know what the lyrics meant when he heard this song (the last one in Folk Songs) on an old record, and he just transcribed it.