Magdalena Kožená’s album Folk Songs brings together folk-inspired song cycles from across the globe. Ranging from Berio’s Folk Songs to sets by Bartók, Ravel and Montsalvatge, this collection provides a kaleidoscope of twentieth-century orchestral song composition. Kožená performs them together with the Czech Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.

Kozena says “Folk songs accompanied my entire childhood. My mum used to sing them while cooking or ironing and during our summer holiday evenings we often replaced watching television with sitting down in the kitchen together with my sister and our grandparents, learning new melodies from them and improvising second, third voices.

Every village in Moravia where I grew up had its own tunes and folk poetry and this art form is still present today at many feasts, weddings, funerals or just at ordinary visits to a wine cellar. (…) I think it is essential that folksongs remain an inseparable part of our cultural heritage and I hope you will be inspired by them and love them as much as I do.” 

Magdalena Kožená, Mezzo-Soprano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

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