Janek L.: Suity z oper – CD

This recording presents orchestral suites from three pivotal operas by Leo Janek: Jenfa, arranged by Tom Ille, Ka Kabanov, arranged by Jaroslav Smolka, and Osud, arranged by Frantiek Jlek. Janek is one of the most remarkable composers of the 20th century, yet his symphonic output is relatively small, leading conductors including Vclav Talich, Frantiek Jlek and Charles Mackerras to create suites from his operas and enrich the symphonic repertoire. In Jenfa, Janek was the first composer to set a prose text to music. The opera emerged from the painful loss of his two beloved children and the crisis caused when Pragues National Theatre rejected it in 1903 as artistically flawed. In Osud, he experimented with the possibilities of musical drama; the opera premiered only 30 years after his death. Ka Kabanov ranks among his greatest works and is one of the finest lyrical operas of the 20th century. The Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra performs under Tom Netopil, whose two previous Janek projects with the ensemble received Gramophone Editors Choice recognition.