This is the second volume in our series devoted to the orchestral works of Janáček, with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner.
The repertoire on this disc includes some of the greatest programmatic pieces by the composer. Unsurprisingly, the first piece featured here is Jealousy – his first declared piece of programme music, originally written to preface the opera Jenůfa but never included in any production of it during his lifetime. Both The Ballad of Blaník and The Fiddler’s Child (also known as a ‘ballad for orchestra’) are characterised by the use of musicals symbols, reflecting the Czech poems on which the pieces are based and also some of the composer’s personal reflections and responses.
The one-movement Violin Concerto The Wandering of a Little Soul is a more mysterious piece, with uncertainties surrounding the title, the date of creation, and the goals of its composition. Like the unfinished Danube symphony, the version recorded here has been reconstructed by Miloš Štědroň and Leoš Faltus from Janáček’s sketches.
An interpretation of the famous tale by Gogol, Taras Bulba was completed in 1915 and was Janáček’s most substantial orchestral work to date. It is inflected with folk dances, battle and horse-riding music, suffering and love, and brought to a grandiloquent apotheosis, in orchestration of almost cinematic vividness.
Tracklist:
Janáček: Zarlivost (Jealousy), JW VI / 10 5:36
Janáček: Violin Concerto, JW IX / 10, "Putovani dusicky" (The Pilgrimage of a Little Soul) (completed by L. Faltus and M. Stedron) 12:11
Janáček: Ballada blanicka (The Ballad of Blanik), JW VI / 16 7:50
Janáček: The Fiddler's Child 12:54
Con moto - Vivo - Adagio - Allegro - Tempo Vivo - Tempo I - Meno mosso - Allegro 4:57
Larghetto - Poco mosso - Tempo I - Con moto - Con moto - Meno mosso - Con moto 5:48
Allegro - Maestoso 2:09
Janáček: Dunaj (The Danube), JW IX / 7 (completed by M. Stedron and L. Faltus) 16:19
I. Andante - Un poco piu mosso - Con moto 3:37
II. Un poco piu mosso - Meno mosso - Presto - Adagio 4:59
III. Allegro - Meno - Piu mosso 3:12
IV. [Allegretto] - [Waltz] - Piu mosso 4:31
Janáček: Taras Bulba 22:52
I. Smrt Andrijova (Death of Andrij) 8:12
II. Smrt Ostapova (The Death of Ostap) 5:30
III. Proroctvi a smrt Tarase Bulby (The Prophecy and Death of Taras Bulba) 9:10
Personnel:
Bergen filharmoniske orkester
Edward Gardner
Susanna Andersson (soprano)
Recording Venue: Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway
https://takefile.link/folder/4e70418e-112a-11e9-b97b-3860779bdc24
