Sir Charles Mackerras Conducts Janácek

Maybe these two discs are to be Sir Charles' farewell to recording Janacek. I wouldn't bet the mortgage on it, though, because he still shows amazing energy levels at 80 years of age and is to conduct Makropoulos at the ENO next month. Nevertheless, you could certainly argue that these performances provide us with a summation of a lifetime's love and scholarly work on these scores from Janacek's greatest proselytiser.

Many of these works have been recorded by Sir Charles before, notably on his ground-breaking Pye recording from the 50's. There was a certain rawness about that recording (partly because of the musicians' unfamiliarity with the music and their sense of discovery, partly because of the dry acoustic) that suited this music particularly well - better, I think, than the plushness and greater security of the later Vienna Philharmonic performances.

The Sarka and Katya excerpts here come from Mackerras' complete Supraphon recordings of the operas. The Katya interludes really exist only as a result of Sir Charles' research and this is wonderful music that we (and the opera) would now be much poorer without.

Most of the other performances are taken from live performances in Prague. They are consistently fine and carry a strong feeling of authenticity when played, as here, by a Czech orchestra. The Jealousy Overture is a great opener, much better in a concert context than in Jenufa for which it was originally written. The Vixen Suite is just gorgeous. There are none of the humans in this Suite, not even the Forester's pantheistic final aria. It is all about the animals and includes the inspiring ballet in which the Vixen dreams of her freedom. Sir Charles and his Czech players give a truly uplifting performance.

Perhaps the most intriguing piece here is the rarity, the orchestral music Janacek wrote for the play, Schluck und Jau. This is the last orchestral music that the composer ever wrote. There are echoes in it of the imperial fanfares from the Makropoulos Affair and of passages from the House of the Dead but it also shows him still questing for new sonorities, fully brought out in this definitive performance.

The two big pieces on these discs - Taras Bulba and the Sinfonietta - are both great live performances. In the former, Sir Charles really gives the graphic and illustrative instrumentation full reign - the integrated organ sounds, the strangulated clarinet, the ideally crisp timps, the solo horn way up high in its register and the full rich brass ensemble of Taras' final apotheosis. The Sinfonietta, too, is as near definitive as you'll get. The full compliment of brass for the opening and closing fanfares are there and the tiered effects the composer demands are ideally realised. I suspect a bit of textual tidying up here and there from Sir Charles the scholar. Certainly the results are as clear and crisp as you could ask, whether in chattering woodwind, crystal bright trumpet playing or perfectly intonated string playing whether at speed or at rest.

All in all, these discs represent a wonderful summary of a lifetime's dedication the Janacek. Worth every penny.

Having read outstanding reviews of the 2004 Charles Mackerras Janacek set I found it somewhat disappointing. There is no doubt that the Czech Philharmonic is the best Czech orchestra and has a better feel for the music than non-Czech orchestras which usually fail to produce the appropriate rustic sound. But there is a curious inconsistency with some of the entries suggesting either a lack of rehearsal time or a lack of communication between conductor and orchestra. The recording is also sometimes overbalanced in favour of the percussion. The most perceptive performance of Taras Bulba is the Vaclav Talich version which although only in mono was always one of Supraphon's best recordings. The Czech Philharmonic has a richly colourful sound. The re-orchestrations by Talich are so minor as to be only noticable by trained musicians. Talich knew Janacek and conducted the first Prague performance in 1924. The Talich also contains a very good performance of The Cunning Little Vixen suite which was arranged by the conductor. The Karel Ancerl performance of Taras Bulba is a bit strident and slightly rushed in the middle movement but is an outstandingly well balanced and clear recording and probably the best stereo performance. The most idiomatic performance of Taras Bulba by a non-Czech orchestra is probably the one by Raphael Kubelik with excellent playing from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra except that the harp is sometimes inaudible in the middle movement. The strident orchestration of Sinfonietta has always struck me as off-putting in a composition which also sometimes draws ideas from other Janacek works. The Jealousy Overture was recorded on Supraphon by Frantisek Jilek in 1992 in a more convincing performance although the Brno orchestra has a raw sound and lacks the quality of the Czech Philharmonic. Schluck und Jau was recorded in 1985 in a fine performance by Libor Pesek conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra along with other rarities on Marco Polo and now on Naxos. A pity that this conductor was not given the opportunity to record more Janacek.