"I want my singing to have drama, to send a message, sometimes people cry when they hear me-this is what's important.
I want people to love me or hate me because of the emotion of my singing." Ewa Podles´

 Wigmore Hall Live proudly presents an all-Russian and Polish recital by the enigmatic Ewa Podles´, widely regarded as the world's leading contralto and one of the true great singers of our time. Recorded live at Wigmore Hall on 23 January 2008, this release marked Ewa Podles´ return to the Wigmore Hall stage after an absence of sixteen years.

With her unique, dramatic voice of staggering range, agility and amplitude, Ewa Podles´ gives the kind of towering performance that has come to be expected of an artist who has acquired cult status and a near-fanatical following within the operatic world.

In addition to her rigorous operatic calendar, which notably includes her highly-publicised return this year to the Metropolitan Opera Stage after twenty-four years, Podles´ is one of the most acclaimed recital and concert performers in the world.
Accompanying Podles´ is the distinguished Garrick Ohlsson, whose solo performance of Szymanowskis Masques was a mastery display of sustained and imaginative virtuosity, matching the singers.
"The power and range of this tone was phenomenal and her personality, outgoing and generous like the voice itself, warmed the hall. It was like hearing some fabled singers of the past, old Schumann-Heink perhaps." Opera Now

"Ewa Podles' recital last night was one of those rare, and very special occasions when a singer opened the lid of her soul and poured forth a stream of uninhibited emotion. Uninhibited, by no means uncontrolled, and with an usual level of communication between performers ... A performance of rare stature" theoperacritic.com 

"One of the world's most impressive and individual voices was heard at the Wigmore Hall this evening: that of Ewa Podles´. Despite her small frame, she has a sizeable voice, a voice that thrills, from a mezzosoprano top to rich, earthy, baritonal depths&It was not just a matter of the sound but of her ability to tailor the richness, the colours, the weight to the words of the songs." www.classicalsource.com

TRACKLIST

Frédéric Chopin (18101849)
Gdzie lubi (A Girls Desire) Op.74 No.5 (1829)
Pierscien (The Ring) Op.74 No.14 (1836)
Wojak (The Warrior) Op.74 No.10 (1831)
Piosnka litewska (Lithuanian song) Op.74 No.16 (1831)
Sliczny chlopiec (Handsome Lad) Op.74 No.8 (1841)

Sergei Rachmaninov (18731943)

Khristos voskres (Christ is risen) Op.26 No.6 (1906)
Davno v lyubvi (How fleeting is loves delight) Op.14 No.3 (1896)
Ona, kak polden' khorosha (She is as beautiful as noon) Op.14 No.9 (1896)
 
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Ya li v pole da ne travushka bïla? (Was I not a little blade of grass?) Op.47 No.7 (1880)
Net, tol'ko tot, kto znal (Only one who knows longing) Op.6 No.6 (1869)
Pesnya Zemfiri (Zemfiras song) (185560)

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

Masques Op.34 (191516)
Shéhérazade
Tantris le bouffon
Sérénade de Don Juan

Modest Mussorgsky  (1835-1881)

Pesni i plyaski smerti (Songs and Dances of Death) (187577)
Kolïbel naya (Lullaby)
Serenada (Serenade)
Trepak
Polkovodets (The Field-Marshal)

ENCORES
Rachmaninov - Prokhodit vsyo Op. 26 No. 15

Press Release by Albion Media