Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Predtucha - Foreboding
2. Smrt - Death
3. I. rada 1st series: Nase vecery - Our evenings
4. I. rada 1st series: Listek odvanutý - A blown away leaf
5. I. rada 1st series: Pojdtje s námi! - Come with us!
6. I. rada 1st series: Frýdecká Panna Maria - The Madonna of Frýdek
7. I. rada 1st series: Stebetaly jak lastovicky - They chattered like swallows
8. I. rada 1st series: Nelze domluvit! - Words fail!
9. I. rada 1st series: Dobrou noc! - Good night!
10. I. rada 1st series: Tak neskonale úzko - Unutterable anguish
11. I. rada 1st series: V pláci - In tears
12. I. rada 1st series: Sýcek neodletel! - The barn owl has not flown away!
13. II. rada - 2nd series: Andante - Un poco piú mosso
14. II. rada - 2nd series: Allegretto - poco mosso
15. II. rada - 2nd series: Vivo - Presto (completed by H. Austbø)
16. Andante - Poco mosso
17. Molto adagio - Presto
18. Andantino - Poco mosso
19. Presto - Meno mosso - Andante

Disc 2:

1. Two rejected pieces: Più mosso
2. Two rejected pieces: Allegro
3. Dymák - Starodávný - Valaska - Pozehnaný - Pilky - Kalamajka - Trojsky - Sekerecka - Kolo - Celdens
4. Narodil se Kristus pán - Lord Jesus Christ is born
5. 6 miniatures: Moderato
6. 6 miniatures: Without title
7. 6 miniatures: Ukolébavka (Cradle song)
8. 6 miniatures: Melodie
9. 6 miniatures: Malostranský palác - Palace of Malostranský
10. [excerpts]
11. Jen slepý osud? - Merely blind fate?
12. Aby uz se nemohlo jiti nikdy zpet - So that one could never return
13. Zlatý krouzek - The golden ring
14. Cekám Te! - I am waiting for you!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28109 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-31
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Better Than You Can Imagine
Janacek's complete piano works fit comfortably on two CDs. His last piano compositions were titled "Intimate Sketches" but that title could well be applied to all his keyboard pieces. The previous reviewer, Pieter of South Africa, is right on the mark about the stupendous variety and originality of Janacek's piano music. Both the intimacy and the variety, I think, result from Janacek's musical "language", that is, from his remarkable transposition of the rhythms and tones of Czeck into music. This seems to me as much true of his keyboard works as of his operas; I seldom "hear" words when I listen to the piano as clearly as I do with Janacek.
Hakon Austbo performs these miniatures with complete authority. I have other recordings by better known pianists of Janacek's "On An Overgrown Path", but Austbo's is the most insightful. Even if you too have bits of Janacek on other disks already, this collection is well worth the modest price. Janacek has taken a hundred years to catch the musical world's attention, but he is the rising star in the constellation of 20th C composers.

a pleasant surprise
Usually a disc of anybody's complete works for any solo instrument is a bit much for one sitting. It wasn't written to be heard in one go, after all. But there's so much variety in Janacek's compositions, you never get the feeling of overload. I'm not an expert but Hakon Austbo's playing seems top-class to me.

Good background music
I am amazed that Janacek could produce such delicate music, after listening to his operatic output. Where others find variety, I find repetitiveness; However, the effect is never less than beautiful. Autsbo is an excellent performer and the set is well worth its price. But for rippling fireworks, Smetana!