Leos Janácek: A Recollection

Leos Janacek (Composer), András Schiff (Performer), Andras Schiff (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: András Schiff
• Composer: Leos Janacek
• Audio CD (June 19, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B000059X1W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,866 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It is pianist András Schiff's near total identification with Janácek's idiom that makes these performances so special. This affinity is felt immediately in his reading of In the Mists, in which Schiff is able to evoke the tranquility of the second movement as easily as he captures the folklike simplicity of the third. The date 1.X.1905 in the title of the Piano Sonata refers to the date of the shooting of a Czech worker by Hapsburg troops. The first movement, marked "Presentiment," is spookily atmospheric, while the chilling second movement, "The Death," leaves a powerful impression. Schiff demonstrates exemplary control, so that the effect is peaceful rather than meandering. On an Overgrown Pathis Janácek at his most concentrated: in particular, the very Czech lachrymose quality of "In Tears" is all the more powerful for its simplicity. Janácek's chosen range of keyboard sonorities is remarkably wide, and Schiff manages to use these to convey the full emotional spectrum. Although these performances do not displace Firkusny's for DG, they certainly offer an entirely convincing alternative viewpoint. ECM's exemplary recording sets the seal on this recommendation. --Colin Clarke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart over Head, April 11, 2005

By 

dm "danmc15" (rochester, ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leos Janácek: A Recollection (Audio CD)

Firkusny studied with Janacek...almost all reviewers agree that his interpretation is truest to Janacek's intent. Yet in head-to-head listenings, it's the Schiff performance that I prefer.

I find the Firkusny performance to be clinical and dry as compared to Schiff, who is more lyrical and poetic. Firkusny may be playing it how Janacek intended, but musicians are artists and are free to interpret a piece any way they like. For this piece, I choose Schiff's interpretation.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, Dark, and Deep, July 20, 2002

By 

Daniel R. Greenfield "Dan" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leos Janácek: A Recollection (Audio CD)

It's late November and you're walking out in the woods. There's a crisp coolness underfoot and in the air. And you've just lost a dear friend to time and circumstance....

That is the type of Recollection which this music evokes for me. The excellent liner notes by Imre Kertesz and Robert Cowan refer to how each one of these evocative pieces is like a short story; each contains its own inner world: the "world in a grain of sand." There is the same mystical element present that one encounters in Arvo Part's music, but there is an impressionistic element as well, more lyrical than Debussy, and more emotional.

The magnificent two-movement Sonate (1.X.1905) is easily the highlight of the album. It was written to commemorate a protesting Czech student executed on that date by German troops. The second movement (entitled simply, "Death") still has, as the liner notes aptly say, "the power to shock." There is an existential element to this music, that "poses the eternally unanswered and unanswerable question of the human condition" (Kertesz).

In response to another reviewer who has stated that the recording's sound quality is lacking: I have listened to this recording on my car's cd player, and there it does sound rather like too much of an echo is present. But on my home stereo system, with quality speakers and subwoofer, the slight echo actually enhances the haunting quality of this music. It is, for me, that echo, that silencio between the notes, that makes this music and this performance, unforgettable.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's So Subjective ..., December 22, 2009

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Leos Janácek: A Recollection (Audio CD)

... one's love of certain music and certain performances. I'm not an untrained listener, though I try to avoid conservatory vocabulary in these amazon reviews of mine. But I've been trying for several months to articulate what precisely seems so fine about Andras Schiff's performance of Janacek, and it all comes down to a subjective sense that he captures the special emotional resonance of Janacek's music just as I hear it in my head. I've also reviewed the performance by H. Austbo of Janacek's complete works for piano - on a mere two CDs. I like that performance a lot, but Schiff's is somehow deeper. Speaking of resonance, one previous reviewer has complained of an 'echo' in the recording; I'll have to guess, but I think that listener may be hearing what is called 'decay', the quality of realistic sound that early digital technology failed to capture and that made analog LPs acoustically superior to CDs.

I'm a huge fan of Janacek, by the way. His operas are my favorites of all 20th C operas, especially "The Cunning Little Vixen". His two string quartets rank for me along with those of Bartok and Shostakovitch as the finest of the century, and they're availble now in a superb performance by the Emerson Quartet. His assorted sinfoniettas for wind ensemble, written late in his career, are "things of beauty and a joy forever," especially because as a bassoonist I get to play them my way. Now, if I were a pianist ....