(1854–1928) LEOŠ JANÁČEK CD2 35:51 CD1 64:27 Taras Bulba Rhapsody for orchestra after Gogol Glagolitic Mass (Mša glagolskaja) Rhapsodie pour orchestre · Rhapsodie für Orchester Messe glagolitique · Glagolitische Messe 1 I. The Death of Andrei 8:41 1 I. Úvod (Introduction) 2:58 Mort d’Andreï · Andrijs Tod 2 II. Gospodi pomiluj (Kyrie) soprano, chorus 3:18 2 II. The Death of Ostap 5:28 3 III. Slava (Gloria) soprano, tenor, chorus, organ 6:41 Mort d’Ostap · Ostaps Tod 4 IV. Vĕruju (Credo) tenor, bass, chorus, organ 12:42 3 III. The Prophecy and Death of Taras Bulba 8:40 5 V. Svet (Sanctus) soli, chorus 6:22 Prophétie et Mort de Tarass Boulba 6 VI. Agneče Božij (Agnus Dei) soprano, alto, tenor, bass, chorus 5:00 Prophezeiung und Tod des Taras Bulbas 7 VII. Verhany sólo (Postludium) organ 2:51 8 VIII. Intrada – Exodus 1:35 4 The Fiddler’s Child (Šumařovo dítĕ) 13:01 L’Enfant du violoneux · Das Kind des Dorfmusikanten Sinfonietta 9 I. Allegretto — Allegro maestoso 2:18 0 II. Andante — Allegretto 5:47 ! III. Moderato 5:01 @ IV. Allegretto 2:49 Hibla Gerzmava soprano · Veronika Hajnová alto # V. Andante con moto 6:59 Stuart Neill tenor · Jan Martiník bass · Aleš Bárta organ Prague Philharmonic Choir Lukáš Vasilek Chorus Master Czech Philharmonic JIŘÍ BĚLOHLÁVEK 2 LEOŠ JANÁČEK (1854–1928) with music for a cathedral made from love (in yearning cantilenas), the noise the “huge expanse of woods and sky of battle (dominated by Taras Bulba’s Few composers communicated their he turned to choral music in later life, stretching into a misty distance”. The strong rhythmic motif on the trombones), enthusiasm for life as successfully as it was usually to compose choruses to work concludes with a dazzling organ and the young Cossack’s death. Leoš Janáček. However, the early 1910s pungent, often patriotic verse. In 1921, solo by way of a voluntary and a wild The second movement depicts the had seen him increasingly gloomy however, inspiration for a new sacred Intrada for orchestra (this performance capture of Taras’s second son, Ostap. about the prospects for his music. He work came from an unexpected source. is based on the 1927 premiere in an As the Poles, in a furious Mazurka, was an important and influential figure According to Janáček’s pupil, Josef edition by Jiří Zahrádka). rejoice at Ostap’s painful death, Taras in the Moravian capital, Brno, but in Martínek, the composer complained to appears in order to witness his son’s Prague he was viewed by the musical Archbishop Leopold Prečan about the Rhapsody for Orchestra, Taras Bulba final moment. The finale finds Taras establishment as incomprehensible poor quality of the church music in and Janáček first came across Gogol’s captured and about to be burnt. From and hopelessly provincial. With the around his native village of Hukvaldy. Taras Bulba in 1905. His enthusiasm for characteristically fragmentary motifs, successful premiere of Jenůfa in 1916 Not one to miss a trick, Prečan suggested the novella was prompted mainly by Janáček develops a broad melody, all this changed; there was also the that Janáček himself should fill the the remarkable strength of the Russian which quells earlier tensions, even the prospect that the Czech lands would gap. As a fierce patriot, the familiar people in the face of oppression and hysterical Krakowiak of the Polish victors. gain independence from Austrian rule Latin text of Mass would not do and so resulted ten years later in a three- The concluding apotheosis, complete and, crowning it all in 1917, was his falling Janáček chose Old Church Slavonic, a movement orchestral rhapsody. with organ, in which the dying Taras has in love with a woman thirty-five years form of early Slavic used by the great His efforts were impelled by Russian a vision of the greatness of his people, his junior. This happy concatenation missionaries of the ninth century, Cyril successes in Hungary in the First World brings the rhapsody to a dazzling close. of circumstances released an and Methodius. War; a revision to the score was made extraordinary personal renaissance The Mass was drafted in two weeks, in in 1918 and the premiere was given in Sinfonietta leading to such masterpieces as Katya August 1926, and after two revisions was Brno in 1921. The Sinfonietta started life in 1926 as brass Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen, the complete by 20 December. As a whole the Each of the three movements is and percussion fanfares for a gymnastics Glagolitic Mass, the two String Quartets Glagolitic Mass has a pungent originality based on cathartic episodes in Gogol’s festival dedicated to the Czechoslovak and, best known and perhaps most that flouts conventional expectations depiction of the struggle of the fiercely Armed Forces. Janáček often referred popular of all, the Sinfonietta. of piety. Throughout, the choral writing independent Cossack leader, Taras to it as a “Military Sinfonietta” and it has a dramatic, occasionally operatic Bulba, against Polish invaders in the was written to express, in his own words: Glagolitic Mass (Mša glagolskaja) for intensity. The drama of the Kyrie and Ukraine. The first movement tells the “contemporary free man, his spiritual soloists, choir, organ and orchestra Credo is balanced by moments of story of Taras’s son Andrei who, as a beauty and joy, his courage, strength Although Janáček produced a good pastoral exultation, notably in the Gloria, result of an earlier love, fights against and determination to fight for victory”. deal of sacred music in his early years, where Janáček seems to be evoking his father, but eventually accepts death Janáček gave a further hint of the opera dominated his maturity. When the hills around his native Hukvaldy at his hands. The music depicts Andrei’s pictorial content of the Sinfonietta with 3 titles for each movement: 1. Fanfares; 2. opening fanfares, which in turn create LEOŠ JANÁČEK (1854–1928) The Castle; 3. The Queen’s Monastery; 4. the work’s blazing conclusion. The Street; 5. The Town Hall. He added Rares sont les compositeurs qui ont su Messe glagolitique (Mša glagolskaja) that the whole work drew its inspiration exprimer leur joie de vivre avec autant de pour solistes, chœur, orgue et orchestre from a vision of the growing greatness The Fiddler’s Child (Šumařovo dítĕ) panache que Leoš Janáček. Pourtant, Si Janáček produisit quantité de of the city of Brno in the days after the In 1912, after the successful premiere of au début des années 1910, son humeur musique sacrée au début de sa carrière, independence of Czechoslovakia. Janáček’s cantata Amarus, the Czech s’était assombrie en raison du manque c’est néanmoins l’opéra qui domina The stimulus for the tremendous Philharmonic requested an orchestral de perspectives offertes à sa musique. ses années de maturité. Quand il se fanfares, which open and conclude the work. Janáček took as his subject a Certes, il était une figure importante et tourna vers la musique chorale vers Sinfonietta, was Janáček’s recollection somewhat macabre poem by Svatopluk influente de Brno, la capitale morave, la fin de sa vie, ce fut généralement of a military band performance in a Čech, very much in the tradition of mais à Prague, l’establishment musical le pour composer des chœurs sur des vers park in the southern Bohemian town Erben’s ballads that had inspired the snobait, trouvant son travail inintelligible piquants et souvent patriotiques. En of Písek. The succeeding movements late symphonic poems of Dvořák. The et irrémédiablement provincial. Tout 1921, néanmoins, l’inspiration d’écrire outline, rather loosely, the shape story tells of a village fiddler who, having changea avec la création de Jenůfa une nouvelle pièce sacrée lui vint d’une of a Sinfonia in four movements. But died, appears above his sleeping child en 1916 et le succès qu’elle rencontra source inattendue. Selon l’élève de nothing from this period in Janáček’s playing his violin, intent on drawing it ; en outre, il commençait aussi à Janáček Josef Martínek, le compositeur life is conventional, and the climax of away from the troubles of the world. The être question que les pays tchèques se plaignait auprès de l’archevêque the second movement, an exhilarating old woman caring for the child makes s’affranchissent du joug autrichien, Leopold Prečan de la piètre qualité de Maestoso, introduces a new theme, the sign of the cross and the ghostly et pour couronner le tout, en 1917, la musique d’église dans son village albeit one with a distant relationship fiddler disappears; in the morning, the le compositeur s’éprit d’une femme natal de Hukvaldy et ses environs. En to the fanfares of the introduction. The child is dead. Janáček captures both qui avait trente-cinq ans de moins que homme avisé qu’il était, Prečan souffla third movement begins reflectively, but the drama and poignancy of the story; lui. Cet heureux enchaînement de à Janáček l’idée de remédier lui-même after some threatening gestures from even the mundane life of the village circonstances provoqua une stupéfiante à cet état de choses. Le compositeur the trombones, rises towards a wild is depicted. The successful premiere renaissance personnelle qui déboucha étant un patriote convaincu, il ne Prestissimo before a return to the calm of in Prague in 1917 helped cement sur des chefs-d’œuvre comme Katia pouvait pas se contenter de la liturgie the opening. A chattering and insistent Janáček’s strengthening reputation in Kabanová, La Petite Renarde rusée, la latine habituelle et il opta donc pour du scherzo based on a trumpet fanfare the capital.