Record of the day: Leos Janácek, “String Quartets”

Leos Janácek, “String Quartets” (Cd EMI 754787-2)

Although the figure of Janácek is now considered throughout the world as one of the greatest artists who lived and worked in the 20th century, his music in Italy does not yet have the same great success with the public as it has in many other countries around the world. .

Only in recent years have the masterpieces that the Czech composer wrote for the stage begun to take hold in our sclerotic opera houses, from “Jenufa” to “The Cunning Little Fox” and “The Makropulos Affair”; the public is not to blame for this, since every time Janácek’s music has been programmed the success has always been very strong. In short, it seems that the chronic mental laziness of our artistic directors is awakening and it is to be hoped that in the near future wonderful works such as the “Glagolitic Mass”, the “Sinfonietta” and these same “String Quartets” will become daily bread for us too.

Rich in passion, full of the energy typical of the popular music of his country, Janácek’s music conquers from the first listen thanks to its splendid melodies, the originality of the writing (which pushes the performers towards heights of virtuosity at the limit of the possible, and the Britten Quartet proves here to be perfectly up to the arduous task) to the sincerity of the inspiration that pushed the musician to compose sometimes in a very short time, as in the case of the “Quartet N° 1”, miraculously completed in just one week and written in a state of feverish excitement that is punctually conveyed on every page of the work.

Ideally inspired by Tolstoy’s novel “The Kreutzer Sonata”, the work presents all the typical characteristics of Janácek’s mature style; the incessant use of rhythmic ostinatos and melodies with a popular flavor, the rejection of the broad thematic and formal developments of nineteenth-century origin in favor of a much more modern interlocking superposition of short well-characterized periods, which will influence several authors after him . Even more passionate is the “Second Quartet” called “Intimate Letters” because it is dedicated to the love of the musician’s last years of life, Kamila Stösslová on whom, in four fiery movements, the seventy-four year old musician pours out all the passion of which his flamboyant personality

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.