Castle Classics Janacek - Orchestral Works

L Janacek: Leos Janacek Vol.1 - Philharmonia Brno; František Jílek, conductor

Label - Supraphon

Cat. No. - SU38862

Including Lachian Dances, Suite for Strings, Idyll
Price: £9.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Leos Janacek Vol.2 - Philharmonia Brno; František Jílek, conductor

Label - Supraphon

Cat. No. - SU38872

Including Taras Bulba, Adagio for Orchestra, Suite for Orchestra, Envy (Overture), Serbian Kolo, The Fiddler's Child, The Ballad
Price: £9.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Leos Janacek Vol.3 - Philharmonia Brno; František Jílek, conductor

Label - Supraphon

Cat. No. - SU38882

Including Sinfonietta, Dunaj, Violin Concerton The Wandering of a Little Soul, Schluck und Jau
Price: £9.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Orchestral Works - GWENETH-ANN JEFFERS, soprano; ADRIAN THOMPSON, tenor; EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CHORUS; BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA; ILAN VOLKOV, conductor

Label - Hyperion

Cat. No. - CDA67517

Including The Eternal Gospel – Legend for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra 1913; The Ballad of Blaník 1919; The Fiddler’s Child – Ballad for solo violin and orchestra 1913; The Excursions of Mr Broucvek – Suite for orchestra 1908–17

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
Price: £12.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Janacek - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor

Label - Supraphon

Cat. No. - SU37392

2 CD Set

Including Jealousy, Original Prelude to Jenula; The Cunning Little Vixen Suite; Sarka, Overture; Kafa Kabanova, Overture & Interludes; Schluck und Jau; Sinfonietta
Price: £16.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Orchestral Works - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Jirí Belohlávek

Label - Chandos

Cat. No. - CHAN241-7

Including Idyll for String Orchestra; Suite for Strings; Sinfonietta; Overture: Jealousy; The Fiddler's Child; Suite: The Cunning Little Vixen; Taras Bulba
Price: £13.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Lachain Dances - Livia Aghová, Birgit Remmert, Peter Straka, Pavel Daniluk; NDR Chor; WDR Rundfunkchor Köln; WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln; Gerd Albrecht, conductor

Label - Orfeo

Cat. No. - C059051A

Including Lašske tance (Lachain Dances); Suita Op.3; Hospodine! Otcenáš

The four works featured in this recording were all written in the 1890s, during the course of which Janácek's style underwent a decisive change. Artistically inspired by Antonín Dvorák, his valued friend and patron, Janácek exploits in his Lachian Dances the folk music of Moravia which he presented as counterparts to Brahms' Hungarian and Dvorák's Slavonic Dances.

The rarely performed Suite for Orchestra is based on his opera The beginning of a Romance; Hospodine! is set after a well-known Old Slavonic hymn with an overarching dramatic structure; Otcenáš features Janácek's mature operatic style, scored for chorus and tenor solist. All three rarities reveal not only the Romantic roots and unmistakable influence of Dvorák but also the embryonic form of Janácek's his own distinctive idiom.
Price: £13.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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B Smetana; A Dvorak; L Janacek: Tennstedt - London Philharmonic Orchestra; Klaus Tennstedt, conductor

Label - BBC Legends

Cat. No. - BBCL4139-2

Including SMETANA The Bartered Bride Overture; DVORAK Symphony No.8; JANACEK Sinfonietta
Price: £11.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Orchestral Works - Bamberg Symphony Orchestra; Jonathan Nott, conductor

Label - Tudor

Cat. No. - TUDOR7135

SACD Hybrid Recording

Including Sinfonietta for Orchestra (1926), Taras Bulba (1915/18), Suite for Orchestra “Das schlaue Füchslein” (1921/23)

The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra was founded after the Second World War, by musicians from the former German Theatre in Prague, who had been forced to leave Czechoslovakia. There had been an orchestra in existence at the German Theatre since Mozart's day. Therefore the thread of Czech repertoire, as presented on this disc, continues to this day. The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra with Jonathan Nott is appearing at this year’s Prom’s.

“…this powerful Janacek triptych reinforces the favourable impression left by these artists’ stimulating Schubert symphony cycle for this Swiss label. Nott’s Sinfonietta is something of a grower, a thoughtful, defiantly un-sensational reading which takes a number of hearings to reveal its lasting qualities…How judiciously Nott controls his forces – the effect is properly rousing, noble and unflashy… there can be nothing but praise for a vividly truthful co-production between Tudor and Barvarian Radio.” Andrew Achenbach, The Gramophone (August)

“This Sinfonietta is just about the most lyrical I can remember…the Sinfonietta in particular offers a fine alternative – and for the stunning SACD sound.” Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine
Price: £13.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek; J Suk; B Martinu: Sinfonietta · Symphonie No. 6 · Scherzo - Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Jirí Belohlávek

Label - Chandos

Cat. No. - CHAN8897

Including Leos Janácek: Sinfonietta; Bohuslav Martinu: Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques); Josef Suk: Fantastické Scherzo Op.25
Price: £13.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Lachian Dances. Taras Bulba. Sinfonietta - Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava); Ondrej Lenard, conductor

Label - Naxos

Cat. No. - 8550411

Including Lachian Dances; Taras Bulba; Sinfonietta

"these are excellent performances, and well worth the money involved" - Penguin Guide

"these are the orchestral sounds that Janacek ordered" - Gramophone
Price: £5.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Danube. Moravian Dances. Suite Op.3 - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Libor Pesek, conductor

Label - Naxos

Cat. No. - 8555245

Including Danube (Symphonic Poem); Incidental Music to Schluck und Jau; Moravian Dances; Suite, Op.3

"This release is very fair priced for some fine music from a composer whose highly individual genius deserves more attention than it has received in the West."- John Sunier, Audiophile Audition

"The joyous opening movement and soulful adagio, with its evocative wind writing, are the most remarkable portions of the work...The price is right."- Godell, American Record Guide July/August 2002
Price: £5.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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L Janacek: Orchestral Works - Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra; Frantisek Jilek, conductor

Label - Supraphon

Cat. No. - 111834-2

3 CD Set

Lachian Dances; Suite for Strings; Idyll for Strings; Sinfonietta; The Danube Symphony; The Wandering of a Little Soul - Violin Concerto; Schluck und Jau; Taras Bulba; Rhapsody for Orchestra; Adagio for Orchestra; Suite for Orchestra, Op.3; Jealousy Overture; Serbian Kolo - Cossack Dance; The Fiddler's Child; The Ballad of Blanik
Price: £38.50 (Including VAT at 15%)

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A Dvorak; L Janacek; G Enescu: Serenade for Winds - Oslo Philharmonic Wind Soloists

Label - Naxos

Cat. No. - 8554173

Including Serenade in D minor Op.44; Dixtuor Op.14; Mladi

Penguin Guide 2002 Rosette Recommendation

"This disc offers an hour of some of the most wonderful music, wind or otherwise, you will ever hear."

- (Robert Stumpf II) Classical.Net April 2001

Price: £5.75 (Including VAT at 15%)

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