On an Overgrown Path

1st Series - Words Fail! Andante


  • Recorded: 2nd February 2019
  • Record Place: Martinů Hall, Academy of Performing Arts
  • First Release: 2019
  • (P) 2019 SUPRAPHON a.s.
  • Genre: Chamber Music

Artists

  • music by: Leoš Janáček
  • piano: Jan Bartoš

Album

Jan Bartoš

Janáček: Piano Works

Catalogue Number: SU 4266-2
Published: 31st May 2019
Genre: Chamber Music
Format: 1 CD
This album has received following awards:
  • Gramophone Editor´s Choice (2019)
  • Recordings of the Year, MusicWeb International (2019)
  • Disc of the Week, Europadisc (2019)
  • Top 10 Recordings of 2019, Europadisc (2019)
  • 10 Best Classical Albums of 2019, NPR (2019)
Leoš Janáček (1854-1958) - piano works: 1.X. 1905, On an Overgrown Path I, On an Overgrown Path II (the first two authorised parts), In the Mists, Thema con variazioni, Reminiscence

Jan Bartoš - piano

Before he was completely overwhelmed by love for composing, Leoš Janáček pursued a career as a virtuoso pianist. He was closely familiar with the instrument, which served for him to share his innermost emotions and feelings. Janáček wrote his first opus, Thema con variazioni, at the age of 26, when he was studying at the Leipzig Conservatory. The miniature piece Reminiscence is one of his last scores. The composer conceived his three essential piano works, 1.X. 1905, On an Overgrown Path and In the Mists, between 1900 and 1912, which was a difficult phase in his life. They are perhaps the most personal, most intimate pieces he wrote. Janáček was inspired by the sound of the cimbalom, an instrument he often heard when collecting folk songs in Moravia. The genes of the pianist Jan Bartoš evidently bear the traces of the ample musical tradition of his ancestors, including his grandfather, a cimbalom player. The legacy of folk music and the Silesian origin is what Janáček and Bartoš have in common. In his account of Janáček's music, the pianist reveals a profound musicological insight, as well as a fascinating intuition - the inspiring integration of the heart and the brain, owing to which Bartoš's previous Supraphon albums (Mozart - Concertos, SU 4234-2; Beethoven - Sonatas, SU 4252-2) have met with such great acclaim.

Leoš Janáček according to Jan Bartoš - returning to his deepest roots

Reviews

“Excellently recorded by the Supraphon team, and with an exceptionally interesting booklet interview between Bartoš and leading Janáček expert Jiří Zahrádka, this is a disc that deserves to be in any serious Janáček collection, for it just about sweeps the board in this music. And it should be heard by anyone interested in 20th-century piano music, Czech music, or just music per se!”
Europadisc, May 2019

“Jan Bartoš has an instinctive understanding of Janáček's musical language, the intimacy mixed with intense emotion. The recorded sound is up close and personal, a good match for the playing.”
BBC Radio 3 Record Review, June 2019

“His piano tone is beautifully pellucid, yet with plenty of warmth… Bartoš’s runs in quiet passages are ravishing, reminding one of a string of pearls.”
MusicWeb International, July 2019

“Die Musik wirkt einerseits sehr einfach und konzentriert, andererseits bildet sie große Erzählströme aus, die mit ihrem Detailreichtum gefangen nehmen. Bartos kann dieses durch seine räumliche und familiäre Nähe zu Janacek und seinem Lebensraums angelegte Verständnis zu Janaceks Ausdruckswelt mit sicherer Hand und feinen Nuancen spannend und einnehmend artikulieren.”
Pizzicato, August 2019

“Jan Bartoš draws you closely in to Janáček’s com­pelling sound world, music both exposed and somehow personal, lines and details delivered from the very beginning with imagination and deep thought.”
Gramophone, September 2019

“Bartoš is excellent at capturing the intimacy of these unpretentious pieces with beautiful legato lines … these well-recorded performances are certainly recommendable.”
BBC Music Magazine, September 2019

“Der Pianist Jan Bartoš begegnet jedem der Werke auf eine eigene Weise. Im frühen Variationswerk lässt er einen beinahe klassischen Geist à la Beethoven oder Mendelssohn auferstehen, bleibt klar und virtuos in der Melodieführung. Die romantischen Miniaturen des Zyklus‘ ‚Auf verwachsenem Pfade‘ erhalten unter Bartoš‘ Fingern eine zarte, melancholische, aber nicht verträumte Art, bei der die Transparenz gewahrt bleibt.”
The New Listener, August 2019

“Sein Klavierklang vermittelt in gleichem Maße Wärme und Transparenz und unterstreicht die in der Musik schlummernde Melancholie. Unter Beachtung auch kleiner Details bringt er die Musik zum Sprechen.”
ORF, August 2019

“Das ist in jeder Phase der hier gespielten Musik großartige Klavierkunst eines großartigen Künstlers und eine ReferenzeinspieIung dieser Musik!”
Piano News, September 2019

“II sait donc quel sens prêter à telle résonance, quelle liberté prendre avec Ie métronome ou comment étager les voix, sans pour autant prétendre nous donner de lecon d’analyse. Démontrant autant de tact que de variété d’articuIation, il aborde Ie programme avec une intelligence rare.”
Diapason, September 2019

“Jan Bartoš tend plutôt vers la lyrique émerveillée de Firkušný. Son Sentier alenti, modelé dans des nuances dolce assourdies, sait s'adonner au simple chant des bois, l'invite de „Viens avec nous“ est le charme même, rien ne vient troubler sa sérénité un peu schumannienne, ce sont des Waldszenen sur lesquelles veille la Vierge de Frydek.”
Classica, October 2019

“In this fascinating, sometimes moving recording, Jan Bartos brings together all the music (from the late 1880s until the late 1920s) in performances that are both precise and deeply felt, with a recording that matches the intimacy of the playing.”
American Record Guide, November 2019

“La beauté de ce disque doit énormément au pianiste tchèque Jan Bartoš. Est-ce parce qu’il est natif de Brno, qu’il en a intégré le cadre et l’atmosphère si moraves, et qu’il s’est comme fondu dans l’intimité, dans l’âme, de son illustre compatriote?”
Crescendo, October 2019

“The talented Czech pianist Jan Bartoš has done a service by gathering the bulk of Janáček’s piano music on a single disc… These are sensitive, idiomatic readings, so it should be said at the outset that the disc is thoroughly recommendable.”
Fanfare, December 2019

“Jan Bartoš’s splendidly idiomatic and emotionally draining performances of Janáček’s solo piano music… Bartoš really penetrates to the heart of this music, and he is well served by the Supraphon recording team, making this an especially memorable disc of some of the 20th century’s most distinctive piano works.”
Europadisc, December 2019

“Apart from the late Rudolf Firkušný, Janáček's pupil, no pianist has interpreted his music with enough subtlety – until now. Czech pianist Jan Bartoš, in his own singular voice, has found his way into the composer's head, especially in the cycle of intimate miniatures titled On an Overgrown Path, where emotions run raw with bright coloring, then become veiled through nuanced pedaling. Like saving a near-dead language from extinction, Bartoš carries the Janáček tradition – and its secrets – forward.”
NPR, December 2019

Leoš Janáček
Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905 in E Flat minor From the Street
1. Presentiment. Con moto 06:00
2. Death. Adagio 07:05
Leoš Janáček
On an Overgrown Path
3. 1st Series - Our Evenings. Moderato - Tenderly 03:34
4. 1st Series - A Blow-away Leaf. Andante 03:10
5. 1st Series - Come with Us! Andante 01:11
6. 1st Series - The Frýdek Madonna. Grave 03:54
7. 1st Series - They Chattered Like Swalows. Con moto 02:21
8. 1st Series - Words Fail! Andante 01:51
9. 1st Series - Good Night! Andante 03:07
10. 1st Series - Unutterable Anguish. Andante 03:37
11. 1st Series - In Tears. Larghetto 02:59
12. 1st Series - The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away! Andante 03:51
13. 2nd Series - Andante 03:44
14. 2nd Series - Allegretto - Presto 04:05
Leoš Janáček
In the Mists
15. Andante 03:29
16. Molto adagio 04:05
17. Andantino /att./ 02:23
18. Presto. Meno mosso 04:10
Leoš Janáček
19. Thema con variazioni 09:19
Leoš Janáček
20. Reminiscence. Con moto 01:29

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