Janáček

Cellist Jiří Bárta and pianist Terezie Fialová dedicate their new album to the legacy of Leoš Janáček. The album features three pieces written originally for violin and piano: the well-known Sonata that had been, nonetheless, neglected at the time of its origin, Dumka, and Romance. The violin parts of the three compositions have been arranged for the cello by Jiří Bárta and are released in a world premiere in this form. Janáček composed Dumka and Romance during his studies in Leipzig, an unhappy period when he tortured himself with doubts about his talent. They both show traces of classicist and romantic style and Bárta´s cello recording even more pronounces the wistfully elegiac disposition of the piece. Cello adaptation of the Sonata is based on Janáček´s version from 1922, retaining the key and the having piano part unaltered, while the violin part has mostly been transposed an octave lower. The album also includes the only two compositions by Janáček intended for cello and piano, Pohádka (Fairy Tale), with a fourth movement that had been part of one of the working versions of the work but discarded later by Janáček, and the short Presto, originally probably intended as one the movements for Pohádka – which also went through diverse stages of germination just as Sonata did, and its last version was published in 1924. Inspiration by the tragic story of the Tale of Tsar Berendey and his child reflects Janáček´s own experience. “Like most of Janáček’s chamber works, Pohádka provides a fascinating insight into the composer’s soul,” says Jiří Bárta and describes his memories of his first encounter of Janáček´s music: “I’m listening to the strangely beautiful music, so different from anything I’d have encountered as a child. Harrowing, yet tender, sad, but in a different way, moving, yet devoid of whining and false tears. (…) In his almost despondent genuineness, he will not forgive any mannerism or insincerity, making it hard for the performer to decipher him. Even at moments of greatest anguish, he is faithful to the principles of beauty and truth.” The catalogue of Animal Music features as well a recording of the two artists’ performance of Beethoven’s Sonatas for piano and cello (2021), and Jiří Bárta’s solo recording of complete Bach’s cello suites (2018).