Magdalena Kožená & Yefim Bronfman

Whenever one hears the name Johannes Brahms, one generally thinks of “major” symphonies or of an equally varied repertoire of chamber music for a wide range of casts. However, Brahms was also thoroughly at home in the vocal genres, leaving behind over 40 collections for one, two or four voices with or without piano accompaniment. His “Lieder” extend from the ideal of easily singable popular songs to artifice and artistic ambition, and this is evident in the selection that has been made for this recital by Magdalena Kožená. In addition, the mezzo-soprano will also perform excerpts from Modest Mussorgsky’s “Nursery” (“Detskaya”) cycle, in which the protagonists – “people with their own little world and no entertaining puppets” (Mussorgsky) – express themselves in unvarnished words. By contrast, cabaret-like brilliance and broken irony are the hallmarks of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Satires” – music that is dramatised superbly by the ambiguity of the poet Sasha Chorny’s darkly humorous lyrics. Finally, there is the macabre, rustic humour of Béla Bartók’s folkloristic “Village Scenes” (“Dedinské scény”): in the second song, for example, the bride is told that she has gained a husband but lost a lover. Magdalena Kožená is accompanied by the world class pianist Yefim Bronfman.