OT: Janacek - a composer I really like.

[barry guerrero]

I just wanted to share that I've started revisiting the major works of Leos Janacek. Like Mahler, he has a very unique and individualistic sound-world. Like Mahler, his music is mostly tonal, although he does reach into atonality more often than Mahler does. However, Janacek's atonality nearly always serves an expressive purpose. Rarely is he being atonal simply because he just feels like it. To my mind, Janacek's harmonies are even richer than Mahler's, except for maybe the so-called "farewell trilogy" of works by Mahler. Like Mahler, Janacek is an expert orchestrator, if also less elaborate in the percussion department. Like Mahler, Janacek likes to kill off his tenors (extremely high tenor writing). Like Mahler, Janacek loves kettle drums, and never hesitates to write high pitched notes for them. Janacek even surpasses Mahler when it to comes to very high clarinet writing, often times giving important solos to the Eb piccolo clarinet. However, Janacek's polyphony (at least several simultaneous musical voices) is rarely, if ever, contrapuntal in nature. Mahler was closer to J.S. Bach in that single regard. Like Mahler, Janacek loves trombones, and never hesitates to write them in close harmony. Yet, the biggest difference is:  Janacek sounds almost nothing like Gustav Mahler.

[John Kim]

Quite right. His orchestral pieces recorded by Ancerl/CPO is one of my all time favorite CDs. I also like Janacek's chamber music which is in its own class. I just wish he had composed large-scaled symphonies, like Mahler.

John,

[barry guerrero]

Naturally, I like "Sinfonietta", "Taras Bulba", and the Glogolitic Mass. But right now, I'm listened to his last opera, "From The House Of The Dead", based on a Dostoevsky novel. The orchestration to it is just outrageous. Good stuff.

Barry