If your interest in Chopin’s Polish Songs primarily lies with the piano parts, Vladimir Ashkenazy easily dominates the competition. His rhythmic virility, soaring bass lines, and dynamic power consistently ennoble the Mazurka-like introductions, interludes, and postludes. Although Elisabeth Söderström’s dark timbre lends itself well to the Polish texts, some listeners may be put off by the uniform expressive level and slightly heavy quality of her vibrato. This bothers me less in faster, upbeat numbers than in tender, lyric statements such as the “Melodia” and “Nie ma czego trzeba”, where I prefer the lighter, more flexible phrasing of mezzo-soprano Urszula Kryger (Hyperion). Furthermore, Kryger fills out her disc with several of Pauline Viardot-Garcia’s vocal elaborations of Chopin Mazurkas. Unlike Decca’s original 1986 release, the Eloquence reissue does not include texts or translations.
