Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)

Choral Works

Thomas Walker, tenor
Philip Mayers, piano

Cappella Amsterdam
o.l.v. Daniel Reuss

Radio Blazers Ensemble (Říkadla)

Opgenomen in november 2010 in de Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam.

Uitgebracht door harmonia mundi (www.harmoniamundi.com).

Janáček's choral works draw on an extremely rich repertoire of folksongs and folk tales. The composer seized on idioms from Bohemian and Moravian traditions, with their characteristic folk dances and rustic nursery rhymes, and to the recently published Moravian Duets of his compatriot Antonín Dvořák, to convey a mixture of emotions, forever shifting between cheerfulness and melancholy, like his subdued harmonies. Here we witness the birth of a musical language which, though deliberately rooted in central Europe, has projected for nearly a century the aura of a universal sentiment.

‘Harmonisch en scherp.’
- NRC Handelsblad, 19/01/2012

‘Geweldig klankkleurkorps.’
- De Stentor, 8 november 2011

‘Lenige timing en lentefris geluid.’
- De Volkskrant, 11/01/2012