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Leos Janacek

23K views 60 replies 44 participants last post by  Neo Romanza 
#1 ·
A big innovator in early C20th music even though he was born in the middle of the C19th. While some composers who reached their 60's don't compose much of consequence, Janacek's late works are his greatest, including several operas, the mighty Glagothic Mass, and the passionate String Quartets. The Sinfonietta (innacurately named as it is scored for a huge orchestra) and the earlier symphonic rhapsody Taras Bulba are also worthy of mention.

He definitely did not compromise in his music, and wrote what he felt. Some criticised him for this, saying he was negating the music of his friend and compatriot Dvorak or the earlier Smetana. In some ways, he had a quite wierd and idiosyncratic way of composing (eg. writing down in musical notation some passionate conversation he overheard, or the clucking of hens). He was a different drummer playing his own tune, but this fact just enhances my appreciation of his unique style. One of my favourite composers and, although he was of an earlier generation, his works can seem just as startling and bold as Stravinsky, Bartok or Hindemith.

What do people think?
 
#2 ·
I think his String Quartet No. 1 "Kruetzer" is the first string quartet I actually sat down and paid attention to so that I finally "got" string quartets and other chamber works. Before that I was mainly interested in big symphonic pieces and compared chamber works, especially string quartets, to boring black and white pencil drawings as opposed to full blown paintings.

Maybe I was just ready and some other string quartet would have done as well, but I'll always remember this work as the first chamber piece that caught my ear with it's brilliant sonorities and odd colorings for just the four instruments. Not yet really enjoying chamber works, I was not familiar with Beethoven's Kruetzer sonata which this is supposed to quote or emulate somewhere -- though I have yet to find where.

Anyway, I like black and white pencil drawings too now.
 
#3 ·
And his orchestral works are fun to play too! I did Taras Bulba with the BBCSSO years ago and I remember the last few pages which are just magical for the bass section. More recently I played another piece for small string orchestra which had some very tough stuff but Janacek is definitely one of these composers whose work repay a bit of serious practice. His orchestration in also particularly bold and some orchesral managers cringe when they see Sinfonietta come up on the program because they know they then have to find a whole army of trumpets in all shapes and sizes! I personally find bits of the 'Glag' almost metaphysical. As you said he wrote what he wanted and the rest be damned!
GO Janacek
 
#4 ·
Janácek is one of my all time favorites.. I just wet myself in rapture everytime I get to hear the Sinfonietta or the Glagolitic Mass or Taras Bulba.. I also really love From The House of the Dead.. but some of my favorite Janácek works are his choral pieces, like the Songs of Hradcany, The Wolf's Trial, Kaspar Rucký.. I've also got a soft spot for his Lachian Dances and the Cunning Little Vixen Suite..
One of the most fascinating figures to me in European music..
 
#6 ·
Without exaggeration, I haven't heard a work by Janáček I didn't like. I started with the two string quartets, of which the second is among my favourite compositions ever (as I wrote in the 10 classical favourites thread), then moved on to orchestral, and in the end got acquainted with the piano works and the chamber concertos (btw, those are my least favourite pieces of his). All of his orchestral pieces are originally and inimitably orchestrated.

Taras Bulba and the Glagolitic Mass are metaphysical indeed.

Milan Kundera said something about Janáček's music being so special because it expresses unexpressible emotions. I think he's close to a perfect description.
 
#7 ·
I like Janacek a lot. "Taras Bulba," "Sinfonietta," "Glagolitic Mass," "The Cunning Little Vixen," "Lachian Dances," and "Suite for String Orchestra." I wish he would have composed more orchestral music.
 
#8 ·
I've just re-acquainted myself with Janacek's mighty Glagolitic Mass, after hearing it years ago on radio (& I was as impressed then as I am now). This is a very monumental work, as some people have said, it's metaphysical, connected to the composer's 'pantheistic' view of nature, as the cd notes say.

Another late work, on the same Kubelik disc, is The diary of the one who disappeared. It's a song-cycle for tenor, contralto, female chorus and piano. Is it just me, or is it a bit wierd to hear a work in German by a Czech composer? Anyway, I have really enjoyed listening to Janacek's music, I also have some of his orchestral works & the string quartets, and I look forward to getting some of his piano works...
 
#11 ·
Sinfonietta was one of my first loves in classical music.

And the first opera i went to was Janaceks Makropolous Case at the dutch opera with Cheryl Barker.
Amazing
 
#13 ·
Yes, his piano works are great, as I have found out for myself recently. I just got the DG 2 CD set which contain most of his works for this instrument, as interpreted by Rudolf Firkusny, who was actually taught by Janacek as a young boy.

These works, although written in the first quarter of the C20th, are so modern (even by today's standards), that they could have been written decades later. They are also very unique, not copying the usual Romantic or Impressionist styles. There's a certain directness, but also much warmth and intimacy. Of particular note is the Sonata 1.X.1905 "From the street," which was written in memory of a worker who was killed by Austrian troops when a demonstration in Janacek's home city of Brno was brutally supressed. There's much emotion & pathos here, but it's not heart-on-your-sleeve, it's more understated. The work we hear today is incomplete, lacking a final movement, as the composer burnt that (which shows his impulsive and self-critical character). Luckily, the two remaining portions of the manuscript were secretly saved by a pianist, which were later allowed to be published when Janacek changed his mind.

Another interesting work on this set is the Concertino for piano & chamber orchestra. It is oddly scored, with seperate instruments accompanying the soloist in each movement. It is exactly this quirkiness & offbeat quality that draws me to Janacek, because I am somewhat tired of the usual classical cliches. What you get here is something that still sounds fresh, challenging and new, even after all these decades have passed.

It's interesting how Janacek really came into his own when he was in his fifties. Then in his sixties, he met Kamila Stosslova, who was to become not only a good (platonic) friend, but also his muse. Then a flood of these very original and memorable works began flowing from his pen. One would never think this listening to early works, like the Suite for Strings, which has traces of Dvorak, Haydn & Tchaikovsky. He was a late bloomer and we can all be thankful for that, perhaps this accounts for the depth and maturity of his greatest works.
 
#14 ·
I admire Janacek. He is a composer with a very unique sound. He composed exactly what he heard in his head and what he heard was truly unique.

The Glagolitic Mass is incredible. The music sounds ancient and modern at the same time. It very well could be his orchestral masterpiece.

After Dvorak, Janacek should be considered the most important Czech composer, and he should certainly be counted as one of the most unique composers of his time. A visionary, even.
 
#16 ·
He just seemed to get better and better - the works of his last 20 or so years were very distinctive and had the benefit of sounding new and fresh but not gratuitously novel.
 
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#18 ·
I love Janacek!

Leoš Janácek

Work
Janácek: Pohadka JW 7/5

Artists
Gilbert Kalish Joel Krosnick

http://www.amazon.com/Debussy-Janác...7T0I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320328339&sr=8-1

Very delicate and evocative work.
Presentation are nice and subtle. The interplay between piano and strings is very good, and the sound is excellent.



Work
Janácek: Srting Quartet No 1 JW 7/8

Artists
Smetana Quartet

http://www.amazon.com/Janacek-Strin...WNSK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320332831&sr=8-1

Excellent performance and sound of this fine quartet!



Work
Janácek: String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters" JW 7/13

Artists
Skampa Quartet

http://www.amazon.com/Janacek-Strin...NU9S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320332763&sr=8-1

The second string quartet is also excellent!
Unbelievably great nerve in this performance. Interplay is great, and sounds very good.

 
#20 ·
I loved Janáček from the first moment I heard him on a concert with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra playing an arrangement of his 2nd string quartet. His tonal language just hits home with me. As someone in a youtube comment once said: "Janáček skips the ears and goes straight to the heart."
 
#21 ·
I love Janacek´s music since I heard the Glagolitic Mass… In my opinion is a very special composer, he gets many surprising effects of modernity with a relatively traditional materials. Moreover, their music is a strange and curious mixture of violence and tenderness. The way he use to he build the music is far removed from the classical European tradition in the organical development sense. He reminds me a little of Mussorgsky.
Besides the works mentioned, I like very much the Concertino for piano, two violins, clarinet and horn:

 
#25 ·
I've just been listening to Janacek's String Quartets and have been bowled over by them - wonderful music. I think, though, that Hilltroll was wrong to say, "I'm not sure that any technically competent ensemble could destroy that music." They certainly can't destroy it, but very few recordings I have sampled seem to come anywhere close to the tremendous angst of the first quartet as achieved by the above suggestion of the Hagen Quartet and this live performance by the Alban Berg Quartet:



Listen to these, especially the 3rd movement of the 1st, and it will be like you're hearing totally different music compared to most recordings. There's no going back once you have.
 
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