Songs my country taught me (Lieder meiner Heimat / Chansons de mon pays natal)
Agnes Baltsa (mezzo-sopran), Kostas Papadopoulus (solo bouzouki), Athens Experimental Orchestra, Stavros Xarhakos
On this perennially favourite album of popular songs by contemporary Greek composers, Agnes Baltsa’s peerless voice and the lively bouzouki in the band conjure up a rich and varied picture of Greece. “It is a compliment to her to say that if one heard this record “blind” somewhere […] one would sit up and take notice of the quality of the voice and the urgency of the delivery” (Gramophone).
Tracklisting:
1. Garífallo st'aftí (A carnation behind your ear) (3:11)
2. Oniro pedión tis gitoniás (Dream of urban children) (5:09)
3. O tahidrómos (The postman) (4:45)
4. Méra Magioú (A day in May) (5:04)
5. To tréno févgi stis októ (The train leaves at eight) (4:01)
6. Se pótisa rodóstamo (I gave you rose-water to drink) (4:49)
7. Stou Othona ta hrónia (When Otto was king) (4:18)
8. Áspri méra ke ya mas (There will be better days, even for us) (3:55)
9. Varkarólla (Barcarolle) (4:01)
10. Ta tréna pou fígan (4:06)
11. Arhóntissa (Princess of my heart) (4:17)
Released 2008.

Reviews:
"Die elf griechischen Lieder, die Stavros Xarhakos hier für Agnes Baltsa arrangierte, sind von volkstümelnder Touristen-Folklore weit entfernt. Trauer und Schmerz, Melancholie und Sehnsucht geben den Ton an. ..Höchste und hohe Bewertungen für die Interpretation und Klangqualität." (R. Herzog in Audio 1 / 87)