DAGMAR PECKOVÁ’S

In collaboration with Jaroslav Krček, Musica Bohemica and Gentlemen Singers, the globally renowned mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková has made a new album. Titled Nativitas, it features Bohemian and Moravian carols, Christmas songs from Czech Baroque hymnbooks and carols of European nations. Supraphon will release the album on 5 October 2018.

The mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková decided to give her fans a special Christmas present this year – an album of soulful songs and carols. She said: “Jaroslav Krček, his superb Musica Bohemica and I strove to make a contemplative album featuring Christmas songs that inspire hope, desire for a better world and love for age-long seasonal traditions. I named it Nativitas, as the songs are about nativity and celebrate motherhood.”

The album listeners will undoubtedly savour Bohemian and Moravian carols, the tender poetics of Christmas songs from 17th-century Czech Baroque hymnbooks (including A. V. Michna’s splendid Chtíc aby spal). Yet Dagmar Pecková also likes transcending the borders of her homeland – after all, the whole of Europe commemorates the birth of the Redeemer at Christmas. People sing Good King Wenceslas in England, Lulajże Jezuniu in Poland, Stille Nacht in Germany and the carol Adeste fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful), translated into many languages. Yet the album Nativitas also includes Swedish, Swiss, Dutch, Belgian and Italian Christmas songs. Jaroslav Krček added: “I am glad that our selection encompasses carols which have previously not been performed in our quarters – Dutch, Belgian, Swedish and Swiss, for instance. All the melodies sung at Christmas were created from the depth of the heart, which we bore in mind, and recorded them with great reverence and love.”

Jaroslav Krček has augmented the magic of the songs both as the conductor of Musica Bohemica and the creator of their arrangements. After hearing just a few bars, his singular penmanship, inspired by Baroque and folk music, enchants the listener owing to a great scale of colours, ranging from an intimately chamber to an almost symphonic sound. The album is also adorned by the voices of the acclaimed Gentlemen Singers, as well as the soloists Karel Jakubů and Filip Dámec.

Dagmar Pecková’s Nativitas features 30 carols and Christmas songs. With the support of the EOP company and in co-operation with the Camerata Supraphon agency, Supraphon will release the album on 5 October 2018 on CD and in downloadable formats.