Chopin composed only 19 songs, but they cover almost his entire compositional career, from 1829 to 1847. They are direct and uncomplicated, each dealing with a particular scenario or emotion: nature, lovesickness, death, and yearning are all examined in their manifold manifestations. They range from about a minute and a half to five and a half minutes, and each is a gem. Indeed, this is Chopin for people who like Chopin at his most lyrical, poignant, and immediate–not a bad thing. They are relatively easy both to sing and play and Ewa Podles, using every one of a fine singer’s interpretive (and vocal) tricks, manages to be as adorable in a ditty concerning a girl fibbing to her mother about sneaking out to see her boyfriend (Lithuanian Song) as she is terrifying in an intense work about a horseman riding at full speed through a forest to his dead girlfriend, complete with pianistic tone-painting Schubert would be proud of. Here and throughout Garrick Ohlsson is a fine partner at the piano. Both piano and Podles’ true contralto voice are handsomely recorded. As a bonus, Elisabeth Mann joins Ohlsson in Chopin’s variations on “Non piu mesta” from Rossini’s La Cenerentola. This disc is delightful.
