As the repertoire of Janáček’s symphonic compositions is not extensive, two new arrangements of his works represent a welcome addition to this repertoire.

Symphonic Suite from the opera “Osud” (“Fate”)

The primary intention of this arrangement, based on the new critical edition by Jiří Zahrádka, was to draw attention to the quality of this music beyond opera houses, and to reveal it to a wider public in orchestral concerts. However, when I conceived the orchestral suite, I did not focus on just drawing on the best-known operatic passages. I tried to use passages which are extremely interesting and have a musical fascination, passages which often escape the notice of opera audiences because their attention is distracted by other elements of the drama.

The choice of individual sections from the opera was no easy task. irrespective of which opinions dominate regarding the quality of the libretto, the music of Osud is peppered with typical Janáček melodies. Paradoxically, the most difficult question was not which sections should be included in the Suite, but which had to be omitted.

The Suite does not follow the plot sequence of the opera; the sections are arranged so that the musical tectonics of the work correspond with a single-movement free fantasy form. Tomáš Ille

   
The Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905 for orchestra

Janáček wrote his Sonata for Piano “1. X. 1905” in memory of the 20-year-old worker František Pavlík, who was killed on 1 October 1905 at a demonstration for a Czech University in Brno. Influenced by these events, Janáček wrote a three-movement piano sonata, but he was unhappy with it, which is why he destroyed the last movement. Although there is no lack of idiosyncratic pianistic effects in the two surviving movements (“Foreboding” [Předtucha] and “Death” [Smrt]), the composition does not feel as if it was written for piano, rather it feels more like a piano reduction or a sketch for symphonic music.  At the same time it is very original music, captivating in its expressivity, which almost cries out to be orchestrated. The first person to attempt this was the conductor Břetislav Bakala, a student of Janáček, who orchestrated “Death” [Smrt] for large symphony orchestra, approaching the work with great freedom by today’s standards. The result sounds very romantic. Alongside many other alterations, he transposed the whole work into E flat minor to make it more playable, but this considerably weakened its effect – with Janáček the choice of key played a fundamental role, and E flat minor was so significant for him.

My orchestration of “Foreboding” [Předtucha] was originally created to complement Bakala’s orchestration of “Death” [Smrt]), and is also included on the CD by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra Zlín. In the interests of unity of style, I have also orchestrated the second movement. I started with the forces of a Janáček orchestra in operatic and symphonic scores, and have endeavoured to retain the distinctive features and typical characteristics of his style (close spacing of the trombones, use of a harp, use of instrumental groups in the style of organ registers, etc.).   

Vojtěch Spurný
(translation: Elizabeth Robinson)
(from [t]akte 2/2017)