Janacek, perf. var., rel. 1999.
Another compilation.
This is on the Masters of the Millenium series.
It features Janacek's String Quartet No. 1 ("The Kreutzer Sonata"), the Sinfonietta for Orchestra and the Capriccio for Left Hand (piano) and Chamber Ensemble.
A small gripe is that there are no liner notes with this CD - so all aspiring detectives are urged to "google" the relevant information.
I can tell you what the music sounds like!
Janacek was a Czech composer, writing mainly in the early 20th century, and a "late starter", achieving popularity and acclaim in his senior years, through a series of highly charged, melodically attractive and superbly orchestrated operas, of which "Jenufa" is the most popular.
His style is neo-classical - think tonal music, think Mozart but without all the "rules" that Mozart had to follow.
He also used repetition extensively, in the sense that one short or medium-length tune would be immediately repeated before moving on to the next one.
Of his instrumental works, the Sinfonietta is perhaps the most well known. It is a hugely attractive work, full of Slavonic/Czech modalities and with exuberant passages where the brass jumps out over the strings and flies forward. Transcendent.
It actually reminds me considerably of Tubular Bells, with that repetitive feature, and in a good way - the Tubular Bells of the Neo-classical Period...
Janacek - somewhere between Dvorak and Bartok?
Well worth exploring!
9/10.
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