Janacek Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Leoš Janáček
Label: Ottavo
Magazine Review Date: 10/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: OTR38607
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| On an Overgrown Path |
Leoš Janáček, Composer
Jet Röling, Piano Leoš Janáček, Composer |
| In the mists |
Leoš Janáček, Composer
Jet Röling, Piano Leoš Janáček, Composer |
Author: John Warrack
Given the present popularity of Janacek's piano music, especially of the Overgrown path pieces, it is odd that the recording situation is not more satisfactory. Of the three versions listed above, Radoslav Kvapil's Supraphon is now growing old; he makes In the mist a filler for good performances of the Piano Sonata and some smaller works. Moravec (Nonesuch) also plays the Sonata and In the mist, filling up with one or two only of the Overgrown path pieces; he is more romantically inclined with In the mist, and his beautiful, withdrawn playing of the Overgrown path pieces he does include— ''Good night'', ''In tears'' and ''A blown-away leaf''—make one wish he had recorded the whole suite.
The new record, which is well-engineered with a warm immediacy that does not preclude the crispness necessary for Janacek's piano textures, is pleasantly performed, with a nice attention to detail and a suffusing warmth of emotion. If this can at times become a little claustrophobic, the fault is on the right side: these are sad, self-communing pieces of regret, even if Janacek's sense of reality charges them with strength. Regret, they seem to convey, does not mean blotting out a past that has helped to form the present. They describe scenes in Janacek's native village of Hukvaldy and a time there associated with the death of his daughter Olga.
But the finest performances of this fine music have been deleted. They are by Rudolf Firkuy (part of a 1972 DG two-LP set—2721 251, 1/83) and by Paul Crossley (part of a Decca five-LP set—D223D5, 4/81). Either or both should be restored to the catalogue as soon as possible.'
The new record, which is well-engineered with a warm immediacy that does not preclude the crispness necessary for Janacek's piano textures, is pleasantly performed, with a nice attention to detail and a suffusing warmth of emotion. If this can at times become a little claustrophobic, the fault is on the right side: these are sad, self-communing pieces of regret, even if Janacek's sense of reality charges them with strength. Regret, they seem to convey, does not mean blotting out a past that has helped to form the present. They describe scenes in Janacek's native village of Hukvaldy and a time there associated with the death of his daughter Olga.
But the finest performances of this fine music have been deleted. They are by Rudolf Firkuy (part of a 1972 DG two-LP set—2721 251, 1/83) and by Paul Crossley (part of a Decca five-LP set—D223D5, 4/81). Either or both should be restored to the catalogue as soon as possible.'
Janacek Piano Works
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