Malcolm Day

Magdalena Kozena, one of the most acclaimed recitalists of today, presents a personal collection of songs she has known since childhood and that form some of her earliest musical influences. A haunting collection of songs by Czech composers such as Dvorak, Janacek, Martinu, Schulhoff and Eben, all deeply rooted in the rich Czech folk song tradition. Like Magdalena explains about the songs on the album: They are just the sort a mother would sing to her baby. My mother is not a professional singer, but she loved to sing and knew a lot of songs!

Produced by the team of Brian Brinkerhoff, Dave Roe and Jared Tyler, 'Tricks of the Trade' finds Malcolm's trademark growl and impeccable lyrics surrounded by a great studio band that includes Roe on bass and longtime musical cohort, Tyler on electric guitar, dobro, and background vocals. With Holcombe's uncanny ability to tap into the collective consciousness of a nation that is currently starving for anything that can latch onto and help soothe its soul, these songs are among the best in his illustrious catalog. Adding to the depth and beauty of the album are special guest vocalists, Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris.

It is to be hoped this release will reawaken interest in the music of William Sterndale Bennett, for it contains much to delight the senses. Juxtaposing the D minor and C minor concertos is a wise move on Lyrita’s part, for they are in many ways complementary works. The most immediately noticeable feature of the First Piano Concerto is that it ends with a Scherzo – the composer was persuaded to omit the finale from his intended four-movement plan!. Although still a student at the time of composition, it is clearly written by a fairly mature composer, as can be heard in the depths plumbed by the Andante sostenuto or by the vividly evoked storm-clouds of the first movement.

Though chiefly celebrated now, as in his own day, as an opera composer, Hasse wrote a significant quantity of sacred pieces and much delightful chamber music for voices and instruments. This new disc offers a well-chosen and stylishly performed selection, almost entirely belonging to the last mentioned category. He was a younger contemporary and compatriot of Bach, Handel and Telemann, whose music by and large reflected the rococo taste for pleasing melodies with lightly textured and graceful accompaniments. Doctor Burney was fulsome in his tribute to Hasse, describing him as ''equally a friend to poetry and the voice''. The two cantatas, aria and ballads performed in this programme would seem to bear out Burney's opinion.