If your ideal vocal recording places the performer next to your seat and your ideal vocal performance has the performer singing directly into your ear, this disc by mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Kozená will be just about ideal. No matter what the repertoire -- and
Kozená performs everything from
Bach to
Gounod to
Shostakovich -- and no matter what the context -- and
Kozená takes on everything from song to opera to oratorio --
Kozená is right next to the listener, singing straight into his/her ear. Given her exceedingly warm tone, her extremely rich delivery, and her extraordinarily sibilant pronunciation,
Kozená's intimate delivery may be too much for those with heart conditions or those all too easily affected by singers. But for those made of sterner stuff,
Kozená's performances here will be the stuff dreams are made of. From her intensely devotional "Erbarme dich" from
Bach's St. Matthew's Passion to her wildly sensual "Les tringles des sistres tintalent" from Bizet's Carmen,
Kozená is a stunningly impressive and staggeringly effective singer. Accompanied by a wide range of conductors and pianists from French conductor
Marc Minkowski to pianist
Graham Johnson and recorded in clean, fresh Deutsche Grammophon,
Kozená is absolutely irresistible for those susceptible to her charms.