If you want an hour’s worth of pleasurable listening, look no further than Magdalena Kožená’s latest recording. In the wake of her well-received Folk Songs album in 2023, she reunites with the very fine Czech Philharmonic under her husband, conductor Simon Rattle, for a lovely, thoughtful selection of songs in her native tongue.

At 51, one senses an artist at the peak of her powers. That fine-grained mezzo, so sweet and fresh in her lauded debut recording of Bach arias in 1999, has acquired more steel in the intervening years, and what was once a seemingly intuitive knack for the sung line has developed into a musical intelligence of great precision. It’s as if there’s nothing the mezzo can’t do, so fierce is her commitment (for proof, check out her tremendous Alcina with Marc Minkowski).

Many of the songs here will be discoveries for the listener, beginning with Martinů’s Nipponari cycle. Sonically reminiscent of Ravel or Debussy, this setting of Japanese poems for soprano and chamber orchestra was written by the composer...