Leoš Janáček - Sonata for Violin & Piano - Romance - Dumka - Allegro - Capriccio for Piano left-hand, Flute, Two Trumpets, Three Trombones and Tenor Tuba

While in his 60s, as I already mentioned previously, Janacek produced a nearly unbroken string of masterpieces including several of the greatest operas of the 20th century. "The Violin Sonata in A flat", completed in 1921 is among those masterpieces, an emotionally intense and unusually structured work (it is also included in my previous post along with the two String Quartets, although the Sonata on this recording is played by a different violinist, and is 2 minutes shorter in duration than the previous disc) The "Capriccio" - a weird piece even by Janacek’s standards - is an oddball "chamber concerto" of sorts, which seems to dart from mood to mood, in and out of dark corners with echoes of old folk dances in them, before finally coming to an optimistic conclusion. It's an explosive mix of humor, sentiment, and frank brutishness. It's scored for for "Piano left-hand (as requested by a pianist who had lost his right hand in the Great War), Flute, Two Trumpets, Three Trombones and Tenor Tuba" (probably the most common of instrumental ensembles, no??)

We also get three early works for violin and piano: "Romance", "Allegro", and the better known "Dumka". To my ears it's the "Allegro" that is the most interesting of the three. Enjoy.

Janáček_Violin_Sonata_Capriccio_Tz.zip

http://www67.zippyshare.com/v/99361680/file.html

Leoš Janáček - Piano Music Volume 2 (plus the Concerto for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, Clarinet and Horn) - Thomas Hlawatsch

On Volume 2 we get more of Janacek's beautiful and simply enchanting piano music; in fact I much prefer this volume, as "In The Mist", "Three Moravian Dances" and "Variations for Zdenka" are among my favorite of his piano works. The two miniatures on the disc are really charming also. This is all around a more lively, colorful, and intriguing experience imo, while the "Along an Overgrown Path" Books are much more contemplative, quiet works full of varying moods-they are great works however and I love them as well. 

And then the disc closes with Janacek's "Concerto for Piano, Two Horns, Viola, Clarinet and Horn" from 1925. Oh how I love this piece; it's a wonderful "weirdo" of an Opus (**the programme speaks of people, I assume Janacek-blocking the entrance to a hedge-hog's house in a linden tree..making the hedge-hog "beside itself with anger!". -Can you say nutcase? Ha..in the most glorious way of course!!) there's humor, odd little dances, a certain skittering nervousness here and there....one never knows what is around the auditory corner! That Janacek penned music like this in 1925 is only that much more impressive. Enjoy!

Janacek_Piano_Music_Vol.2_Concertino_Tz.zip

http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/62828442/file.html

Leoš Janáček - Piano Music Volume 1 - Thomas Hlawatsch, Piano

Janacek (1854-1928) has always been one of my favorite composers; really I think it's impossible to find music that he wrote that is not interesting, memorable, and extremely well-written. And, especially in the last few decades of his life, it is hard to find music of Janacek that, happily, is not extremely idiosyncratic, and highly original. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by contemporaries such as Antonin Dvorak, whom he became friends with in 1874. Early on Janacek composed in a more traditional style, one can find the romanticism of Dvorak never too far away-however as time went by his later, mature works incorporated his earlier studies of national folk music in a modern, highly original synthesis.

I think it's music that Dvorak might have written if- he lived longer and- was a total nutcase. Ok, not really perhaps but my point again is that Janacek's music goes from an early rather conservative style although with a rustic, Moravian/Slovak character..and then we get wonderfully eccentric music based on his prior ethnic musical studies, including his musical assimilation of the rhythm, pitch contour and inflections of normal Czech speech (this helped create the very distinctive vocal melodies of his opera Jenůfa (1904), whose 1916 success in Prague was to be the turning point in his career.) In Jenůfa, Janáček developed and applied the concept of “speech tunes” to build a unique musical and dramatic style, and this too inspired most of his output (his great Operas especially) from that point forward. 

His later works are indeed his most celebrated. They include other operas operas (such as Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen), the fantastic "Sinfonietta", the "Glagolitic Mass", the rhapsody "Taras Bulba", "The Fiddler's Child" etc., important choral works, two *perfect* string quartets, instrumental and other chamber works. I adore all of Janacek's music although at times I find myself gravitating to his chamber music most of all. Janacek was one of the greatest Czech composers, but as with much of what I wrote above- I'm pretty sure that most visitors already know this! 

There are interesting stories surrounding most of Janacek's piano music, however I doubt people want to keep on reading ;) The Naxos liner notes (pdf) mentions this but not in great detail. Perhaps I'll write about this and "pdf" it in the near future. Enjoy 

Janacek_Piano_Music_Vol.1_Tz.zip

http://www48.zippyshare.com/v/20556579/file.html