Released on the Pentatone label, the album features a selection of romances by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
Referring to Beczała’s spectacular successes in the operatic repertoire, Presto critic Katherine Cooper writes: “The Polish tenor has recorded relatively little song repertoire over the course of his thirty-year career, but this programme demonstrates just how affecting he can be when painting on a smaller canvas."
She adds: "At 56, he’s in his absolute vocal prime: the voice seems to have taken on new baritonal colours which pay real dividends in songs like Rachmaninoff’s ‘Oh I beg you, forsake me not!’ and Tchaikovsky’s lugubrious ‘Night.'"
Cooper also says that Beczała’s “recent excursions into heftier operatic territory haven’t dimmed the sunshine in the voice, and high notes – whether delivered with full-throated ardour or pianissimo delicacy – are unfailingly steady and supported."
(mk/gs)