ForumOpera has a great new review for Angelique Zuluaga’s Poldowski Art Songs!
“After having given Nadia Boulanger an infinitely well-deserved homage, the American label is further pursuing the defense and illustration of the French mélodie with another unjustly neglected female composer: Poldowski, alias Irène Régine Wieniawska, AKA Lady Dean Paul (1879-1932). … here we indeed find some beautiful music. We can rank the sublime “Narcisse”, with string quartet, as an authentic masterpiece: infinitely more adventurous than any of the other compositions collected on this disc. Also, with its post-Debussian harmonies, it absolutely deserves a place in the repertory of French works for soprano voice and quartet, alongside Maurice Delage’s Hindu Poems or Ravel’s Three Poems by Stéphane Mallarmé. “Sérénade,” with its unexpected accompaniment, sets a poem full of naiads and holly-oaks by a certain Adolphe Retté. We will also treasure the piquant notes of “Mandoline”, where Poldowski achieves a place next to the greatest (let us point out in passing the admirable playing of pianist Gwendolyn Mok). … The diaphanous voice of Angelique Zuluaga effortlessly takes on the virtuosity required by the young Debussy’s “Pierrot”.”
