L'extase: Debussy & Messiaen Songs Magdalena Kožená & Mitsuko Uchida

• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): 3 Chansons de Bilitis:
• 1 Debussy: 3 Chansons de Bilitis: No. 1, La flûte de Pan 03:08
• 2 Debussy: 3 Chansons de Bilitis: No. 2, La chevelure 03:41
• 3 Debussy: 3 Chansons de Bilitis: No. 3, Le tombeau des Naiades 03:28
• 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire:
• 4 Debussy: 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: No. 1, Le Balcon 09:36
• 5 Debussy: 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: No. 2, Harmonie du soir 04:39
• 6 Debussy: 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: No. 3, Le jet d'eau 05:49
• 7 Debussy: 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: No. 4, Recueillement 05:14
• 8 Debussy: 5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: No. 5, La mort des amants 03:52
• Ariettes oubliées:
• 9 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 1, C'est l'extase langoureuse 03:14
• 10 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 2, Il pleure dans mon coeur 03:00
• 11 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 3, L'ombre des arbres 02:43
• 12 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 4, Chevaux de bois 03:20
• 13 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 5, Green 02:34
• 14 Debussy: Ariettes oubliées: No. 6, Spleen 02:48
• Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre):
• 15 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre): No. 1, L'epouse 02:07
• 16 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre): No. 2, Ta voix 03:13
• 17 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre): No. 3, Les deux guerriers 01:52
• 18 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre): No. 4, Le collier 03:33
• 19 Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi (Deuxième Livre): No. 5, Prière exaucée 03:17
• Total Runtime 01:11:08

Info for L'extase: Debussy & Messiaen Songs

With mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and pianist Mitsuko Uchida, two world stars join hands on L’extase, a collection of songs by Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen. Debussy was Messiaen’s life-long idol, and their songs are equally colourful, sumptuous, sensual, and occasionally exotic. The album derives its name from the sultry song ‘C’est l’extase langoureuse’ from Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées, and this song cycle is combined with his Chansons de Bilitis and Cinq poèmes des Baudelaires, while Messiaen is represented by the second book of his Poèmes pour Mi, a declaration of love for his first wife Claire Delbos. This recording demonstrates the profound affinity of both performers with French music, as well as their congeniality as musical partners.

With L’extase, star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená presents the seventh album of her exclusive collaboration with Pentatone, after having presented Il giardino dei sospiri, Soirée (both 2019), Nostalgia (2021), Folk Songs (2023), the title role in Handel’s Alcina and Czech Songs (both 2024). One of the most revered artists of our time, Mitsuko Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, as well for being a devotee of the piano music of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and György Kurtág. She makes her PENTATONE debut.

Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano
Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Magdalena Kožená
was born in the Czech city of Brno and studied voice and piano at the Brno Conservatory and later with Eva Bláhová at Bratislava’s Academy of Performing Arts. She has been awarded several major prizes both in the Czech Republic and internationally, culminating in the Sixth International Mozart Competition in Salzburg in 1995.

She was signed by Deutsche Grammophon in 1999 and immediately released her first album of Bach arias on its Archiv label. Her recital debut recording, an album of songs by Dvořák, Janáček and Martinů, appeared on Deutsche Grammophon’s yellow label in 2001 and was honoured with Gramophone’s Solo Vocal Award. She was named Artist of the Year by Gramophone in 2004 and has won numerous other awards since, including the Echo Award, Record Academy Prize, Tokyo, and Diapason d’or. Most recent releases for Deutsche Gramophon have included ‘Prayer’ for voice and organ with Christian Schmidt (2014) and ‘Love and longing’ with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle (2012).

Kozena has worked with many of the world’s leading conductors, Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Roger Norrington. Her list of distinguished recital partners includes the pianists Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Malcolm Martineau, András Schiff and Mitsuko Uchida, with whom she has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and Salzburg festivals. Kozena’s understanding of historical performance practices have been cultivated in collaboration with outstanding period-instrument ensembles, including the English Baroque Soloists, the Gabrieli Consort and Players, Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Venice Baroque Orchestra and Le Concert d’Astrée

She is also in demand as soloist with the Berlin, Vienna and Czech Philharmonics and the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras. At the start of the 15/16 season she joins the Vienna Philharmonic on tour performing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with performances at the Lucerne Festival, Birmingham Symphony Hall and BBC Proms.

Kozena first performed at the Salzburg Festival in 2002 as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and returned in 2013 as Idamante, a role she has also sung for the Glyndebourne Festival and in Berlin and Lucerne. Kozena made her first appearance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2003 as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and has since been a regular guest. She sang Zerlina for the company’s tour to Japan in 2006 and returned to New York to take the title-role in Jonathan Miller’s production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in 2010/11. Her opera credits also include Angelina in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Royal Opera House, 2007), Oktavian in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (Berlin Staatsoper, 2009 and Baden Baden Easter Festival, 2015), Lazuli in Chabrier’s L’étoile (Berlin Staatsoper, 2010), the title-role in Bizet’s Carmen (Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals, 2012) and in Charpentier’s Médée (Basel Opera 2015).

This season Kozena undertakes a series of residencies throughout Europe: recitals with Mitsuko Uchida, a chamber music project with Sir Simon Rattle and members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, a series of concerts with renowned Baroque ensemble La Cetra and finally a ‘Big Band’ extravaganza. Other engagements this season include the title role in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with the Berliner Philharmoniker and London Symphony Orchestra and in Martinů’s Juliette at the Staatsoper Berlin.

Kozena was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2003 for her services to French music. …

Booklet for L'extase: Debussy & Messiaen Songs