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Editorial Reviews

Labeling Magdalena Kozená simply as a mezzo-soprano doesn't tell the whole story: She's really either a mezzo with great strength and purity in the soprano range, or a soprano with unusually rich depth in mezzo territory. Either way, her voice is a true delight, full of warmth and variegated colors. Aside from her lovely recital of Czech songs, Kozená has focused mostly on Baroque music on disc thus far; she has appeared, for example, on several of John Eliot Gardiner's recordings of Bach cantatas. Here she turns to cantatas of a very different sort by Bach's greatest contemporary, George Frideric Handel. Bach's cantatas are liturgical expressions of sacred devotion, but Handel's are like miniature solo operas, and they demand much of a singer, in both technique and characterization. Delirio amoroso (The Lover's Delirium) tells the story of Clori's bereavement and her search through the underworld for her beloved, Tirsi. Kozená sounds appropriately deranged as her character undergoes extreme mood swings; she recognizes that drama requires more than just pretty sounds, and she's not afraid to go where the text takes her. And in La Lucrezia (Lucretia), in which the protagonist commits suicide after calling for divine retribution against her rapist, Kozená turns the vehemence up yet another notch. In the less melodramatic Tra la fiamme (In the Flames) Kozená doesn't quite match the seductive charm of María Bayo's recording but does offer a thoughtful interpretation that hews close to the meaning of the text. Marc Minkowski shows an aptitude for contrast and momentum that demonstrates why he's quickly become one of the foremost conductors of Baroque repertory. Together with Kozená, he and the excellent Musiciens du Louvre bring Handel's tales of love and loss vividly to life. Scott Paulin, Barnes & Noble

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