Zoltán Kodály; Leoš Janáček - Psalmus hungaricus; Glagolitic Mass (Charles Mackerras)

Information

Composer: Zoltán Kodály; Leoš Janáček

• Janáček - Glagolitic Mass (original version)
• Kodály - Psalmus hungaricus, Op. 13

Tina Kiberg

Randi Stene

Peter Svensson

Ulrik Cold

Per Salo

Copenhagen Boys Choir

Danish National Symphony & Orchestra

Charles Mackerras, conductor

Date: 1994

Label: Chandos

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Review

Without doubt, this is one of the most important recordings of music by Janácek in recent years. Paul Wingfield’s restoration of the original performing version of the Glagolitic Mass is a fine piece of work and deserves to become the standard text.

Those familiar with the Mass will notice changes right at the start, where the ‘Intrada’ (normally the conclusion) appears twice, at both the beginning and end. This introduces a number of fundamental alterations to rhythm and instrumentation which make for a markedly different whole: undoubtedly harder to perform, but infinitely sharper in outline. Most remarkable of all are the timpani solos in the middle section of the Credo which add astonishing force to the choir’s announcement of the Crucifixion.

The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir respond to this novelty with a will. The soloists, especially the tenor Peter Svensson, are beyond praise and Mackerras’s way with this music has a clarity and coherence that make the majority of other performers of the Mass on record seem like sleep walkers. Excellently recorded and attractively accompanied by a fine rendition of Kodály’s Psalmus hungaricus, this performance of the Glagolitic Mass is the one to have.

— Jan Smaczny

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Zoltán Kodály (16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a prominent Hungarian composer. He was also an important figure who contributed heavily to music education in Hungary. As a composer, Kodály created an individual style that was derived from Hungarian folk music, contemporary French music, and the religious music of the Italian Renaissance. His notable works, many of which are widely performed, include Psalmus Hungaricus (1923), the opera Háry János (1926), Marosszék Dances (1930), Dances of Galánta (1933), Te Deum (1936), Concerto for Orchestra (1941), Symphony in C Major (1961), and chamber music.

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century. He studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. His earlier works was influenced by contemporaries such as Dvořák, but later he began to incorporate his studies of national folk music and language to create a highly original synthesis. Janáček's later works, which are his most celebrated, include operas Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sinfonietta, the Glagolitic Mass, the rhapsody Taras Bulba, two string quartets, and other chamber works.

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Charles Mackerras (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an Australian conductor. An expert in a wide repertory of opera and orchestral music, Mackerras was especially well known for his interpretations of music by Leoš Janáček and other Czech composers. He was also one of the first conductors to apply the principles of the historical performance movement to operatic performances by modern orchestras. Mackerras was chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony from 1982 to 1985 and music director of the Welsh National Opera from 1987 to 1992. His vast catalog include well over 275 recordings.

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