Composer Guides,
Leoš Janáček
When I rounded up my favourite Berlioz recordings a few weeks ago, I had to resist the temptation to allow Sir Colin Davis to dominate, and I find myself in a similar dilemma when it comes to Janáček - the late Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras was such an impassioned and eloquent advocate of Janáček's music throughout his career (having encountered his music whilst studying with Václav Talich in Prague in the late 1940s) that you can scarcely go wrong with any of his recordings of the operas and orchestral works.
Czech conductors have, perhaps unsurprisingly, tended to display a natural affinity with Janáček's music, with Rafael Kubelík, Václav Neumann and (more recently) Jiří Bělohlávek, proving especially persuasive advocates; elsewhere, conductors as diverse as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, Ivor Bolton and Vladimir Jurowski have proved eloquent in the concert-hall, opera-house and recording studio.
Operas
Filmed live at Glyndebourne in 2012, Melly Still's unsentimental production plays up the dance elements in the music, well supported by Vladimir Jurowski in the pit. Lucy Crowe is a feisty, boho Vixen and the sonorous Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus (well into his sixties by this point) ideal casting as the Forester. The supporting roles receive tender loving care from some of the best British singers around.
Available Format: DVD Video
Even if you're normally allergic to opera in translation, the Janáček operas in Chandos's Opera in English series are well worth checking out: this one boasts a strongly-sung Katya from Australian soprano Cheryl Barker, with characterful support from the men and a truly venomous performance from Jane Henschel as Kabanicha, the mother-in-law from hell.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
With her luminous tone and air of fragility, British soprano Amanda Roocroft has made a speciality of Janáček's downtrodden heroines and appears to best advantage here in Stéphane Braunschweig's 2009 production from Madrid. Deborah Polaski blazes conflict and conviction as her stepmother, and Nikolai Schukoff oozes testosterone as the feckless Števa.
Available Format: DVD Video
Possibly the only opera which is partially set on the moon, this picaresque tale of a drunken Czech landlord satirises the bourgeois values which Janáček despised - though its protagonist emerges as rather more sympathetic than the composer perhaps intended. This lively 1963 account under the baton of Václav Neumann catches the score's surreal wit and charm with aplomb.
Available Format: 2 CDs
Orchestral and Choral
Chamber and instrumental
I'm cheating a little here, as this disc also includes works by Ravel and Prokofiev - but I had to give a mention to the wonderful Bosnian pianist Ivana Gavrić, who has emerged as one of the most searching interpreters of the composer's piano music in recent years. The balance between the conversational and lyrical elements is beautifully judged.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Apologies that my top choices for the string quartets are split over two discs (both volumes also includes quartets by his compatriot and star student Pavel Haas - well worth exploring) but this young Czech string quartet give such a visceral and luminous account of 'The Kreutzer Sonata' that I really can't omit them with a clear conscience!
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
The Pavel Haas Quartet's reading of 'Intimate Letters' is no less compelling for its balance of technical mastery and raw emotion, and won them the 'Best Newcomer' at the BBC Music Awards in 2007 as well as a slew of other awards and recommendations. Indispensable.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Boxed sets
Recorded in Vienna between 1976 and 1982, this box is an inexpensive way to acquire Mackerras's landmark accounts of the five major operas: the set includes Elisabeth Söderström's Jenůfa, Katya and Emilia Marty, and the Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba are attractive bonuses.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Released in 2004 to mark the 150th anniversary of Janáček's birth, this set offers a fantastic overview of the chamber and orchestral works, with stand-outs being Chailly's blazing Glagolitic Mass, the Gabrieli Quartet's powerful accounts of both String Quartets, and Kenneth Sillito and Paul Crossley's explorations of the chamber music with violin.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
