DAGMAR PECKOVÁ’S DREAMS

The acclaimed mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková will be releasing in April a new 2-CD collection titled Dreams (SU 4171–2), featuring songs by Mahler, Wagner, Berio and Brahms. In the autumn, she and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra will begin recording another album, which is scheduled to be released by Supraphon in the spring of 2015.

TWENTY YEARS AS A RECORDING ARTIST

The mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková, noted for her distinct voice and great charisma, is a bold personality who owing to her openness has also succeeded in addressing “non-classical” audiences, even though she herself remains faithful to classical music and has always flatly refused to participate in modish kowtowing crossover projects.

Her 1994 debut album, featuring Mozart arias, has been followed by another 15 successful discs recorded with Supraphon.

DAGMAR PECKOVÁ’S DREAMS

Supraphon is now re-releasing on a double CD vintage Pecková recordings that represented a significant milestone in the artist’s career and introduced her to the world as a superlative performer of Mahler’s music. “Back in 1988, the then chief conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra cast me instead of Eva Randová, who was ill, in the alto part in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. I have been enraptured by the composer’s music ever since,” Pecková recalls, adding: “Mahler and Wagner; two composers who have influenced my entire career. I can return to these songs/dreams at any time, and they will never cease to surprise me with their unutterable perfection.”

The double album Dreams will be released on 25 April 2014 and besides Mahler and Wagner compositions also contains songs by Johannes Brahms and Luciano Berio. Pecková points out: “I have always really enjoyed singing Berio and the audience, expecting ‘music from Mars’ (as some refer to 20th-century music), have been pleasantly surprised and excited about these inspired songs. When it comes to Brahms, I would like to record many more pieces of his in the future. I hope it will come true one day.”

And what has Dagmar Pecková to say about her recordings made in the second half of the 1990s contained on the Dreams double CD? “They possess a spirited atmosphere. But today they sound different to me than they did 20 years ago… and with the distance of time, I am not ashamed to say that owing to their spontaneity they are faultless.”

CONCERT APPEARANCES

In June, Dagmar Pecková will be performing Dvořák’s Biblical Songs in Linz with the Bruckner Orchester conducted by Bruno Weil. In September she is scheduled to sing Janáček’s Gla­golitic Mass in Liege. In October she will perform the Biblical Songs in Vienna with the Wiener Philharmoniker under the baton of Peter Schneider. Dagmar Pecková has also accepted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s in­vitation to tour the USA in November, where under Jiří Bělohlávek she will sing in Dvořák’s Stabat Ma­ter.