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Track Listings
| 1. Introduction |
| 2. Just Like The Sun Setting O'er The Hills |
| 3. Who Comes Hither Through The Dark Wood |
| 4. O Hallowed Silence |
| 5. We Rage Through The Land |
| 6. The Castle Deserted Stands |
| 7. Behold, See This Place To Which I Bring You |
| 8. Why Did My Heart SEt To Trembling |
| 9. O Blessed Moon |
| 10. Tether Me Fast To This Oak Tree |
| 11. O False Deceit And Guileful So |
| 12. It Was The Cruel Vlasta Did The Deed |
| 13. Ctirad I Be |
| 14. We Rage Through The Land |
| 15. My Soul's Filled With Solemn Foreboding |
| 16. It Was The Cruel Sarka Did the Deed |
| 17. Young Ctirad, Just LIke A Star Falling |
| 18. You Stand Amazed, Gallant Warriors |
| 19. A Sturdy Oak Stood On A Hill |
| 20. Leap Up, Flame, To The Heavens |
On this CD:
-
Sárka
Composed by Leos Janácek
Performed by Prague Philharmonic Choir
with Eva Urbanová, Peter Straka, Iván Kusnjer, Jaroslav Brezina
Conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras
Product Description
BBC Music Magazine
Janácek's first opera is problematic in a number of ways. First completed in 1887, it was revised and partly orchestrated the following year; copyright wrangles and Janácek's changing interests intervened and Sárka lay fallow until 1918, when the composer and his pupil Osvald Chlubna gave the score an extensive makeover. Thus, Janácek's version of the Czech legend of the amazon warrior Sárka and her tragic love for Ctirad straddles widely differing stages in the composer's career. In terms of Czech opera of the 1880s, it is way ahead of its time: pre-echoes of Jenufa and Katya abound, and impressionist harmonic colouring sits sometimes uneasily alongside occasionally underformed melodic lines; at times the score moves with bewildering speed and has a concision wholly atypical of Romantic opera. Even so, there is much that is superb, not least the exchanges between Ctirad and Sárka - one of the shortest love scenes on record - and the magnificent closing pages, all unmistakably by Janácek. Supraphon's contention that this is a 'world premiere recording' is inaccurate since a serviceable Czechoslovak Radio recording from 1953 was issued eight years ago by Multisonic. This handsome new version, however, is superior in every way. Urbanová's magnificent Sárka is superbly partnered by Peter Straka's Ctirad; best of all is Mackerras's conducting of the Czech Philharmonic in blistering form. My only worry was an unsettled first entry from Ivan Kusnjer as Premysl. This landmark performance should convert many to an opera which for too long has seemed merely a curiosity.
Janácek's first opera is problematic in a number of ways. First completed in 1887, it was revised and partly orchestrated the following year; copyright wrangles and Janácek's changing interests intervened and Sárka lay fallow until 1918, when the composer and his pupil Osvald Chlubna gave the score an extensive makeover. Thus, Janácek's version of the Czech legend of the amazon warrior Sárka and her tragic love for Ctirad straddles widely differing stages in the composer's career. In terms of Czech opera of the 1880s, it is way ahead of its time: pre-echoes of Jenufa and Katya abound, and impressionist harmonic colouring sits sometimes uneasily alongside occasionally underformed melodic lines; at times the score moves with bewildering speed and has a concision wholly atypical of Romantic opera. Even so, there is much that is superb, not least the exchanges between Ctirad and Sárka - one of the shortest love scenes on record - and the magnificent closing pages, all unmistakably by Janácek. Supraphon's contention that this is a 'world premiere recording' is inaccurate since a serviceable Czechoslovak Radio recording from 1953 was issued eight years ago by Multisonic. This handsome new version, however, is superior in every way. Urbanová's magnificent Sárka is superbly partnered by Peter Straka's Ctirad; best of all is Mackerras's conducting of the Czech Philharmonic in blistering form. My only worry was an unsettled first entry from Ivan Kusnjer as Premysl. This landmark performance should convert many to an opera which for too long has seemed merely a curiosity.
Performance *****
Sound *****
© BBC Music Magazine 2001
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