Bavouzet:Bergen Phil:Gardner - Janacek: Orchestral Works 1

Edward Gardner conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in the opening volume in their series devoted to orchestral works by Leo� Jan�?ek. It features three pieces that originate in Jan�?ek's late period, when his passionate feelings for Kamila St�sslov�, thirty-seven years his junior, inspired an extraordinary flowering of his creative genius.The Sinfonietta is one of Jan�?ek's most successful and popular works, famed for its opening movement, a brazen fanfare scored for a phalanx of brass with timpani. The remaining four movements, full of character, celebrate Jan�?ek's adopted town of Brno, blending occasional reflection with high-voltage exuberance. Scored unusually for left-hand piano and an ensemble of brass and flute, the Capriccio is remarkable even among Jan�?ek's distinctive late works. Its overall effect is mercurial and capricious, in the composer's words: 'whimsical, all wilfulness and witticisms'. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet employs his formidable technique and interpretative flair in the solo part. The Cunning Little Vixen, Jan�?ek's opera from 1923, was not universally well received at first. A number of its orchestral interludes, however, were immediately popular and after Jan�?ek's death in 1928 V�clav Talich, a leading Czech conductor, extracted an orchestral suite, re-orchestrated by two young colleagues. Recently Sir Charles Mackerras restored Jan�?ek's striking original orchestration, the version recorded here.