So lavish is the photographic spread for DG’s latest
pin-up girl’s newest disc that you almost expect her hairdresser to
be given a credit alongside her language coach. Magdalena on a boat!
Magdalena in the town square! Magdalena looking like Gwenneth Paltrow!
Thankfully, none of this packaging palaver gets in
the way of what is essentially a very musical disc, with a thoughtful
selection of music, by three composers intimately connected with Ko˛ená’s
Prague and Bohemia. This disc is dominated by Mozart and Gluck, two
composers who mixed opera seria with a more natural and enlightened
style. Early Mozart opera is indebted to Gluck, and the two composers’
music fits very well together – Gluck by no means losing out in the
comparison.
DG are very definitely grooming Miss Ko˛ená
for major artist status, and it appears that her initial releases have
been chosen to show her strengths without exposing her to comparisons
that would crush her reputation. Hence she has recorded less well known
Handel, and a spectacularly good disc of Czech love songs. This disc
eases her ever so-slightly towards the mainstream. There is still plenty
of rare stuff, but the famous Figaro aria Voi Che Sapete is so
well known that it is instantly obvious whether she can cut it or not.
And the point is she can. She has a strong, expressive voice that has
a pleasant tone and a beautiful range of dynamics and an excellent facility
for getting between them. Her enunciation is good, and there is always
a sense of drama about her singing. This sense of drama is well suited
to the seria arias, but she can also pull of more light-hearted
stuff. Her Voi Che Sapete might not be sufficiently masculine
in the context of the opera, but it sounds beautiful here.
Of the rest of the disc, highlights are many. My favourite
is the sublime "Se mai senti spirarti sul volto" from Gluck’s
version of Clemenza di Tito. It is gorgeous music, Gluck outdoing
Mozart in extracting human touches from Metastasio’s clunky libretto,
and Ko˛ená brings to it a
beautifully limpid style. The early Mozart arias are well worth hearing
as well.
Least well known of these
composers is Mysliveček, known to me only for his typically Czech
wind harmoniemusik, jolly and pleasant
music of the second or third rank. Poor old Mysliveček seems to
have had a total bummer of a life – with no position and no home, he
died with less money than his contemporary Mozart and, it goes without
saying, less talent. He did apparently achieve some renown in
Italian opera, and the three arias here (all fairly anguished affairs)
are well worth listening to, not for any radical ideas, but for the
joy of well crafted material. Ko˛ená
gives committed and interesting performances.
The Prague Philharmonia is a new ensemble of young
Czech musicians, playing in a fairly international style. It is a slight
pity they don’t sound particularly Czech – that distinctive wind timbre
is always enjoyable – but the playing is very fine and full of life,
and makes an excellent accompaniment. The clarinet solos in the famous
(Mozart) Clemenza aria "Parto, ma tu, ben mio" are
particularly fine.
There is still much for Ko˛ená
to learn – there is a certain rigidity in her voice and recent concert
performances have by all accounts disappointed – but this is another
beautiful collection of well-performed music. She has cornered off an
obscure repertoire for herself, and has done it total justice. No doubt
she will be pushed towards the bigger operatic roles in time, but this
is a disc that can make us hopeful of her success.
Aidan Twomey
Magdalena Ko˛ená,
mezzo-soprano