Hyperion Records
Janácek: Choral Music
CDA66893

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: March 1996
St Silas' Church, Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Gary Cole
Engineered by Gary Cole
Release date: March 1997
Total duration: 73 minutes 20 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: No

'Excellent performances … a well made and enjoyable record' (Gramophone)

'These performances strike me as nearly ideal ... this enchanting Hyperion disc' (Fanfare, USA)

'James Wood y su grupo se apuntan un gran tanto con este CD' (Scherzo, Spain)

Leos Janácek (1854-1928)
Choral Music
New London Chamber Choir, Critical Band, James Wood (conductor)
Ríkadla 'Nursery Rhymes'
1
Introduction: Úvod 'Introduction'  [0:30]
2
No 01: Rípa se vdávala 'The beetroot got married'  [1:19]
3
No 02: Neni lepsi jako z jara 'There's nothing better than springtime  [1:04]
4
No 03: Leze krtek 'The mole creeps'  [0:59]
5
No 04: Karel do pekla zajel 'Karel rode off to hell'  [0:31]
6
No 05: Roztrhané kalhoty 'Ripped trousers'  [0:29]
7
No 06: Franta rasu hrál na basu ' Franta the knacker's son played the bass fiddle'  [0:59]
8
No 07: Nás pes, náa pes 'Our dog, our dog'  [0:34]
9
No 08: Delam, delam kázáni 'I'm giving a little talk'  [0:54]
10
No 09: Stara baba carovala 'The old woman was making magic'  [0:34]
11
No 10: Hó Hó krávy dó 'Ho, ho, off go the cows'  [1:08]
12
No 11: Moje zena malucická 'My tiny little wife'  [0:37]
13
No 12: Bába leze do bezu 'Granny's crawling into the elder bush'  [0:21]
14
No 13: Koza bílá hrusky sbírá 'A white goat's picking pears'  [0:37]
15
No 14: Nemec brouk, hrnce tlouk 'German beetle broke some pans'  [0:35]
16
No 15: Koza lezí na sene 'A goat is lying in the hay'  [0:36]
17
No 16: Vasek, pasek, bubeník 'Vasek, pasek the drummer'  [0:38]
18
No 17: Frantíku, Frantíku 'Frantik, Frantik'  [0:22]
19
No 18: Sedel medvid na kolodi 'The bear sat on a tree trunk'  [1:33]
Kaspar Rucký
20
: Trhám ji jak malinu 'I pick it like a raspberry'  [5:51]
Amanda Pitt (soprano)
Sedmdesát tisíc 'The 70,000'
21
: Sedmdesát tisíc je nás 'Seventy thousand are there of us'  [5:18]
Daniel Norman (tenor)
Vlcí stopa 'The wolf's trail'
22
: Temná noc! Starý hejtman hledá 'A dark night! The old Captain searches for the wolf's trail'  [6:31]
Amanda Pitt (soprano), Christopher Clark (tenor), Clive Williamson (piano)
Elegie na smrt dcery Olgy 'Elegy on the death of my daughter, Olga'
23
: Hle sám, jak smírne, pokojne dívka spí! ' Behold, how comfortably the girl sleeps  [6:42]
Jamie MacDougall (tenor), Clive Williamson (piano)
Hradcanské Písnicky 'Songs of Hradcany'
24
: Zlatá ulicka 'Golden Street'  [3:28]
25
: Placící fontána 'The weeping fountain'  [4:07]
Amanda Pitt (soprano), Will Sleath (flute)
26
: Belveder  [7:42]
Amanda Pitt (soprano), Hugh Webb (harp)
27
Ave Maria  [4:48]
28
Otcenás 'Our Father'  [14:33]
Jamie MacDougall (tenor), Christopher Bowers-Broadbent (organ), Hugh Webb (harp)
This recording features a wide variety of works by the Czech composer Leoš Janácek, ranging from the mayhem of the Ríkadla nursery rhymes and the description of the shameful antics of Mr Kašpar Ruckù to the serene beauty of the Lord's Prayer setting. Several of the pieces are only rarely performed – even today when the composer's reputation is growing fast – and are little known outside the Slavic choral tradition which so influenced their style.