The CD Träume/Dreams features a selection of lullabies by various composers from the world music scene. Artists Nataša Antoniazzo and Mia Elezović have chosen songs that are rarely performed and recorded, deliberately avoiding the so-called “hits” like Brahms’ and Schubert’s lullabies. Thus, we can hear the songs Wiegenlied im Winter und Wiegenlied im Sommer by Hugo Wolf. Richard Strauss’ Wiegenliedchen op.49 Nr.3 which is less often recorded and performed compared to Wiegenlied op. 41 Nr. 1. Max Reger’s Schlaf ein op.76 Nr.47 is included, and the CD also features two world premieres by active Croatian composers, Ante Knešaurek s Spavaj , spavaj zlato moje and Uspavanka by Laura Mjeda Čuperjani, commissioned specifically for this CD. In addition to the premieres by Croatian composers, three other Croatian composers, Ferdo Livadić, Hubert Pettan, and Ivan Matetić Ronjgov, are presented with their lullabies. The beautiful Japanese lullaby Oyasuminasai by the Japanese composer Yoshinao Nakada is sung in Japanese. Among the frequently performed songs are Xavier Montsalvatge’s Cancion de cuna para, De Falla’s Nana, Grieg’s Margaretens Wiegenlied, and Tchaikovsky’s Wiegenlied.
The mezzo-soprano Nataša Antoniazzo and her long-time piano partner Mia Elezović tirelessly advocate for Croatian art songs, which remain little known outside their homeland. Two compilation programs featuring works by the most important composers, as well as an album entirely dedicated to the prematurely deceased Franjo Krežma, have already been released by Antes Edition and have also been reviewed on this platform. Now, under the title “Dreams”, a collection of lullabies is being released, in which five Croatian composers are placed alongside well-known European colleagues.
Sleeping and dreaming beautifully
The lullaby (Uspavanka) is a genre that, due to its simplicity and intimacy, has repeatedly attracted even the great masters of composition. There is nothing to puzzle over or construct here: a child must be gently lulled to sleep and rocked into pleasant dreams. No loud sound, no wrong note should disturb this peace. The emotions of the mother singing are largely the same in Germany, England, Spain, Norway, Croatia, Russia, and Japan; accordingly, the musical means employed vary only slightly. The basic melodic and rhythmic patterns are more or less predetermined, and differences appear mainly in harmony and piano accompaniment. Among the 15 tracks recorded here, Hugo Wolf takes the greatest liberties in this respect with his two lullabies set to poems by Robert Reinick.
Croatian facets
Among the Croatian contributions, the spectrum ranges from Romanticism to the immediate present. Ferdo Livadić (1799–1879), who set a German text, can be considered one of the pioneers of art song in his country. Ivan Matetić Ronjgov (1880–1960) made a particular contribution to Istrian folk music, which also influenced his own compositions. Hubert Pettan (1912–1989), who worked as an ethnomusicologist alongside his compositional career, sought to combine a national idiom with a modern musical language. Two world premieres enrich the program: Laura Mjeda Čuperjani (b. 1971), the only female composer among her international male counterparts, and Ante Knešaurek (b. 1978) draw on folk poetry in their lullabies and accordingly refrain from avant-garde ambitions.
Nataša Antoniazzo has found in these lullabies a field of expression well suited to her artistic temperament. She radiates the necessary maternal warmth and achieves the required tender, intimate tone. At the piano, Mia Elezović once again demonstrates her sensitivity and discreet artistry. The song texts are printed in the booklet only in the language in which they are sung, but given the largely similar content of the songs, this is of little consequence.
HR – Programme 3
The Life of Music – European Mosaic
13 December 2024
Editor: Davor Schopf
Title: CD Antoniazzo – Dreams
For the past eight years, a collaboration has been ongoing between two Croatian musicians—the mezzo-soprano Nataša Antoniazzo and the pianist Mia Elezović—and the German record label Bella Musica in Baden. This partnership has resulted in five highly interesting and valuable CD releases, three of which promote Croatian music, revealing to the wider world—as well as to ourselves—the insufficiently known treasury of Croatian art song.
It began with a CD of German Lieder centered on the character of Mignon from Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. This was followed by the first CD edition Das kroatische Kunstlied 1 (Croatian Art Song), featuring 16 songs by Ferdo Livadić, Ivan Padovec, Vatroslav Lisinski, Franjo Krežma, Ivan Zajc, Dora Pejačević, and Blagoje Bersa. A second release, Das kroatische Kunstlied 2, followed. While the first CD presented composers of art songs from the 19th century and the Modern period in chronological order, the second featured works from the Modern period to the Avant-garde—songs by Josip Hatze, Božidar Širola, Ivo Parać, Dragan Plamenac, Božidar Kunc, Ivan Brkanović, Boris Papandopulo, Ivana Lang, Ivo Lhotka Kalinski, and Jakov Gotovac.
In the meantime, a CD with twenty songs by Franjo Krežma was also produced, placing Nataša Antoniazzo and Mia Elezović among the leading interpreters of this musical genre in Croatia. At the presentation of this release, musicologist Koraljka Kos stated that within the corpus of Croatian music, only Croatian art song demonstrates a continuous development—from the early 19th century to the present—comparable to that of the international repertoire.
The recordings have been released under the Antes Edition label of Bella Musica, which has received Echo Klassik awards for years, and are distributed by one of the world’s largest record companies, Naxos.
Concert and opera singer, and assistant professor at Libertas University, Nataša Antoniazzo completed her vocal studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. She further refined her artistry in Salzburg in the class of the celebrated opera singer Grace Bumbry, in Vienna at masterclasses with Sena Jurinac, and in Zagreb with Ruža Pospiš Baldani. She has distinguished herself through performances at the Croatian National Theatres in Zagreb and Rijeka, as well as numerous solo concerts, with a particular focus on Lieder and the art song repertoire. She has long collaborated with pianist Mia Elezović, an acclaimed concert pianist and assistant professor at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek. Together, the artists consistently promote Croatian musical heritage and have presented Croatian art song in concert halls across Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Frankfurt, and other European cities.
The new CD is titled Dreams. It features a selection of lullabies by various composers, with particular care taken to include lesser-known works. Therefore, the most famous examples—such as lullabies by Johannes Brahms or Franz Schubert—were deliberately avoided, although the artists had previously recorded them for Croatian Radio. A special highlight and value of the CD are two commissioned works written specifically for this release by contemporary Croatian composers: Sleep, Sleep, My Golden One by Ante Knešaurek and Lullaby by Laura Mjeda Čuperjani. Other Croatian composers represented include Ferdo Livadić, Hubert Pettan, and Ivan Matetić Ronjgov with their lullabies.
Another distinctive feature of the CD is the lullaby Good Night – Oyasuminasai from the cycle Eight Songs for Children by Japanese composer Yoshinao Nakada, performed and recorded in Japanese. Also included are Lullaby for a Little Black Boy by Xavier Montsalvatge, Margaret’s Lullaby by Edvard Grieg, Summer and Winter Lullabies by Hugo Wolf, Sleep by Max Reger, Little Lullaby by Richard Strauss, as well as lullabies by Manuel de Falla, Benjamin Britten, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The CD’s music producer is Nataša Antoniazzo, and the sound engineer is Luka Rojc. The accompanying booklet text, written in German and English by Jelena Knešaurek Carić, provides concise introductions to each selected composer and the content of the songs, and also includes the original texts of the settings.