Phidylé - CD

This classical vocal CD features soprano Kateřina Kněžíková with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava conducted by Robert Jindra, performing Bohuslav Martinů’s The Magical Nights, selected songs by Henri Duparc, Maurice Ravel’s Five Greek Folk Songs and Shéhérazade, and Karol Szymanowski’s Pentezilea. Kněžíková’s lyric-coloratura soprano has delighted audiences at opera houses and concert halls in many world music capitals, including performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Camerata Salzburg, Czech Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, working with conductors including J. Bělohlávek, S. Baudo, M. Honeck, J. Hrůša, T. Netopil and R. Ticciati. One of her career highlights is an invitation to sing the title role in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová at Glyndebourne. For her Supraphon solo debut, she chose captivating fin-de-siècle songs from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with an impressionist atmosphere, including Martinů’s settings of Chinese poetry and Duparc’s songs. The simple, devout country girl Phidylé, the heroine of one of them, gives the album its title. Exoticism, a connection with nature and a trust in intuition run through the entire selection, while the orchestra creates a richly coloured canvas for Kněžíková’s soprano. The contents are in Czech, with the songs performed in their original languages.