Lyrical gems from north and south

Some Aucklanders had a preview of Viktoriya Dodoka's new album this month when the Russian soprano gave a recital in the Town Hall Concert Chamber.

On that occasion, a bracket of Rachmaninov songs, with the supremely unruffled Iola Shelley on piano, was the highlight of the evening.

The two women's Rachmaninov Songs offers about a third of the composer's output and includes some of his most lyrical outpourings.

Songs like Oh, never sing to me again and the wordless Vocalese are delivered by Dodoka with the requisite Slavic passion.

Track by track, tale after tale of sorrow and heartbreak are told, all the more effectively when the music allows Dodoka to dip into a mezzo register - the opening of Before my window is pure enchantment.

If this Russian melancholy, for all its unceasing lyricism, becomes a little too much, you will find more range in the six songs from the composer's Opus 38, written in 1916 and fired by Rachmaninov's affair with the singer Nina Koshetz. There are even a few bright-voiced "tra-la-la" choruses in The Pied Piper to lighten the all-surrounding introspection.

This CD is a rare treat, recorded by Wayne Laird with his accustomed flair, and one hopes that a second volume is being considered. It would nice to hear the singer tackle some of the composer's more satirical numbers.

Moving from the northern to southern hemispheres, mezzo Bernarda Fink introduces us to her brother Marcos on Harmonia Mundi's Canciones Argentinas, a winning sampler of 20th-century art song in their native Argentina.

This is an outing of considerable charm and naturalness, especially with the sparkling piano contribution of Carmen Piazzini.

The two duet beautifully on Fleury's Cruzando tu olvido.

She has fun introducing us to the perky Perico in Buchardo's Cancion de Perico. Her brother's voice is more effective on straightforward ballads than the same composer's Jujena.

For those who associate Argentina with the tango, there are three slices of Piazzolla, including El titere, which Bernarda Fink delivers with a dash of cabaret.

Yet another delightful venture, and I am impatient for another serving.

* Viktoriya Dodoka & Iola Shelley, Rachmaninov Songs (Atoll ACD 106)

* Bernarda & Marcos Fink, Canciones Argentinas (Harmonia Mundi HMC 901892, through Ode Records)