[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA67517

Multichannel Hybrid SACD
SACDA67517

£13.99
£16.99

The years either side of the First World War were a time of renaissance for the Czech nation – and at the heart of this rebirth was the music of Leoš Janácvek. The Fiddler’s Child, a ballad for solo violin (Elizabeth Layton in this exciting new recording) and orchestra, tells a harrowing tale of supernatural malfaisance as a parable for the struggles of a perennially oppressed nation.

Such a tone of double meaning is also to be found in The Eternal Gospel: overt religiosity becomes, for Janácvek, an expression of the contemporary world’s need for reconciliation – the work received its premiere late in 1917. Similarly The Ballad of Blaník, dating from a couple of years later, adapts traditional folk material into an orchestral ‘miniature epic’ depicting the transformation of swords into ploughshares amid a scene of unabashed pastoral tranquillity.

Janácvek’s two ‘Excursion of Mr Broucvek’ operas – the ‘excursions’ in question being ‘to the moon’ and ‘to the fifteenth century’ – concern themselves with traditional tales of medievalist escapism. Dedicated to ‘the liberator of the Czech nation’ (Tomáš Masaryk, the country’s president in the years following its separation from the Austro–Hungarian empire), this is music of an irrepressible vivacity and optimism; the suite recorded here (prepared after the composer’s death) draws together the considerable quantity of purely orchestral music from the operas – including some of Janácvek’s original drafts.

The broad sweep of these orchestral works is given full flight in luxurious performances from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under its Chief Conductor Ilan Volkov.

Czechoslovakia’s independence was to be short-lived, but Janácvek’s aspirational music can stand today as a symbol of what might have been.

Recorded in Caird Hall, Dundee, on 4 and 5 June 2004 (The Fiddler’s Child, The Excursions of Mr Broucvek) and 7 and 8 January 2005 (The Eternal Gospel, The Ballad of Blaník)
Recording Engineer
SIMON EADON
Recording Producer
ANDREW KEENER
Front Design
TERRY SHANNON
Front Picture Research
RICHARD HOWARD
Booklet Editor
TIM PARRY
Executive Producer
SIMON PERRY
© Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MMV

Duration: 59'54
DDD
Front illustration: The Angels of Sodom (detail) (c1890) by Gustave Moreau (1826–1898)

LEOS JANACEK (1854-1928)

Orchestral works

BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ILAN VOLKOV conductor

Contents:

    The Eternal Gospel Legend for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra, 1913 [18'45]
  1. Con moto And so it will pass, as written in the Scriptures! – [3'17]
  2. Andante See the Angel flying, silently soaring – [5'25]
  3. Con moto O hearken, you whose heart is faint and wilted! [7'03]
  4. Andante All this the Angel told me at my vigil [2'56]
    Angel GWENETH-ANN JEFFERS soprano
    Joachim of Fiore ADRIAN THOMPSON tenor
    EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CHORUS

  5. The Ballad of Blaník 1919 [8'02]

  6. The Fiddler’s Child Ballad for solo violin and orchestra, 1913 [11'46]
    ELIZABETH LAYTON violin

    The Excursions of Mr Broucvek Suite for orchestra, 1908–17 [20'58]

  7. Introduction: The Late Evening [3'49]
  8. Moon Waltz [3'50]
  9. Before Dawn [5'44]
  10. Song of the Hussites [3'21]
  11. Procession of the Victors [4'04]
Sleeve Notes

'Elizabeth Layton contributes silvery violin solos, and under its young Chief Conductor Ilan Volkov, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is idiomatic and incisive … Warmly recommended' (BBC Music Magazine)

'This is a must for any Janácek fanatic. Not only does it contain a selection of his works rarely, if at all, found elsewhere, but also the performances and recording are superb in almost every way' (The Daily Telegraph)

'The Eternal Gospel dates from 1913, and so is mature Janácek, sharing much with the sound world of his operas. As this sympathetic performance shows, it's a piece that has been cruelly neglected' (The Independent)

'The gifted young Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov masterminds a laudably disciplined and full-throated account of this bracing rarity … Hyperion's glowing natural sound-frame (courtesy of the Keener/Eadon production team working within Dundee's Caird Hall) sets the seal on a first-rate anthology' (Gramophone)

'On this exemplary new Hyperion disc one almost feels one is hearing [them] properly for the first time. Ilan Volkov is an utterly convincing, idiomatic interpreter; and the recording, throughout the whole programme, is of demonstration standard … Enthusiastically recommended' (International Record Review)

'Janácek's 1913 cantata should be far better known, and certainly will be when word gets round about this ecstatic performance from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Edinburgh Festival Chorus under the inspirational Volkov. The music surges with lyricism - and complements the instrumental voice of the other Janácek rarities on this CD' (The Financial Times)

'The Eternal Gospel is dynamite; if you care about Janácek's music you should have this' (Fanfare, USA)

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