LeoŠ JANÁčEK (1854-1928)
MŠa glagolskaja (Glagolitic Mass) JW III/9 final version
(1928) [39:33]
Sinfonietta JW VI/18 (1926) [23:32]
Christiane Libor (soprano); Ewa Marciniec (alto); Timothy Bentch (tenor);
Wojciech Gierlach (bass); Jaroslaw Malanowicz (organ)
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir; Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Antoni Wit
rec. Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, Poland, 29-30 September 2009 (Sinfonietta),
26-27 April 2010 (Mass)
NAXOS 8.572639 [63:05] 
It is a measure of the quality of the recordings now being routinely released
by Naxos that technical and performing excellence can be taken for granted.
That is certainly the case here. Antoni Wit and his Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
can be counted on to produce discs of considerable technical skill and musical
depth with the Philharmonic Hall Warsaw proving to be a generous and sympathetic
recording venue to boot. The coupling of Janáček’s two most famous non-operatic
late works has come into its own since the advent of CD with more than half
a dozen new recordings or re-couplings currently available. At around forty
minutes the Glagolitic Mass made for a not very generous LP on its
own with the Sinfonietta occupying a single side. Here they are combined
to make a programme that feels more substantial than its hour running time
would suggest.
I see that Naxos is releasing this performance as a Blu-Ray Audio DVD simultaneously.
I have listened to this in the standard CD format. The engineering is essentially
very good. Engineer/Producer Andrzej Sasin handles the complex textures of
large orchestra, solo organ, four soloists and choir very well. The whole
ensemble is well integrated with soloists in the foreground perhaps a tad
too ‘large’. The orchestral balance is superb – some low woodwind detail registering
particularly well. I’m thinking of the contra-bassoon and bass clarinets parts
tellingly audible. Personally I would have liked the horns and timps to be
less recessed. The former because their writing vies for supremacy with the
other brass and the latter because repeating timp ostinati make for such a
compellingly personal part of the composer’s sound-world. My guess is that
others will find it more to their taste and that the HD Blu-Ray balance will
allow for a subtler appreciation of the writing.
So far so good and indeed no-one encountering these sensational works for
the first time here at the Naxos price advantage would be disappointed. But,
and here’s the rub, bluntly put significantly superior performances are available
for both works. What a uniquely fervent work the Mass is. Has any composer
in the last year of his long life - Janáček died aged 72 the year of
its composition - written a piece so bursting with exultant energy? No twilight
glow of evening this, the double inspirations of nationalistic fervour and
religious ecstatic outpouring - even though the composer was a confirmed atheist!
- combine to make this one of the most dramatic settings of the Mass bar none.
By that definition Wit is simply too debonair and cultured. His performers
are accurate, often beautiful but lacking the beady-eyed zealotry of the most
convincing versions. Take the famous repeating cries of ‘Amen’ that closes
the Gloria [track 3] – all absolutely fine and good and really quite
exciting. Then turn to any of three Supraphon recordings to hear this passage
and many others have an impact on an altogether more visceral level. Ancerl
in the famous prize-winning 1964 recording with the Czech PO, Frantisek
Jílek with the Brno Philharmonic or possibly best of all Charles
Mackerras again with the Czech PO – an early 1985 DDD recording all have
the measure of the work in a way that simply eludes Wit. It feels likes too
easy a choice to turn to Mackerras in Janáček so I compared this performance
last. In all expectation I wanted to dip into various movements to contrast
with Wit. Before I knew it I had sat listening to the whole performance absolutely
spellbound. And that is how this work should affect you. For early
DDD the Mackerras is really pretty good although the new Naxos is quite a
bit more refined. But at every turn Mackerras - or Ancerl or Jílek for that
matter - find a swagger and an emotional punch behind the notes that just
feels right. Worth mentioning at this point that Wit uses the ‘standard’ revised
version of the Mass as did Mackerras on this Supraphon recording – he re-recorded
the work for Chandos
in 1994 using the original version. Organist Jaroslav Malanowicz plays the
important concertante part well although the famous solo Postludium [track
7] again sacrifices flamboyance for intellectual control. Also, as recorded
the solo movement brings the instrument into the close foreground whereas
its other contributions place it firmly within the instrumental group. As
is only to be expected the singing of the Warsaw Philharmonic choir is skilled
and polished yet once again there is an element of urbanity - almost comfort
– that lessens the drama of the great choral outbursts. Wit’s soloists are
literally a mixed bunch. The alto and bass are Poles, the tenor a Hungarian
and the soprano a German. I’m no expert in the pronunciation of Old Church
Slavonic but again it is the emotional sinew that lacks rather than any apparent
linguistic failing. Measuring them against Mackerras’s team of Elisabeth Söderström,
Drahomira Drobkova, Frantisek Livora and Richard Novák both individually and
as a team lack authority although they are by no means poor. Söderström’s
Janáček credentials are long and honourable and the three other soloists
– and chorus – are utterly at home in the idiom. Add a pungently reedy organ,
perfectly balanced nagging timpani and brass playing with a pagan swagger
and the deal is done. This recording is still available with no coupling making
poor value by one yard-stick but this is an occasion when quality beats quantity
comfortably. To give some sense of how good this new version is though – the
closest comparison I could find was with the Chailly/Decca account using the
Vienna Philharmonic. Without Mackerras’s galvanizing energy in Janáček
the VPO do sound simply too plush – glorious but too upholstered. This is
a case where timings tell far from the whole story – Wit is barely more than
a minute quicker than Mackerras yet the extra emotional weight of the latter
gives the whole work a far more monumental and imposing feel.
Turning to the extraordinary Sinfonietta many of the same observations
apply. The gap closes because the quality of the actual playing and the relative
lowering of the emotional temperature of the work means there is a less extreme
range across the various performances. Again I tried to avoid Mackerras but
when finally turned to – in either the early rough and ready Pro
Arte Orchestra version on EMI or the much-lauded Decca performance using
a palpably engaged Vienna Philharmonic - it is impossible to ignore the audible
fact that Mackerras was inspired by and in turn inspired others in Janáček’s
music. There are many other fine versions to consider – the recently re-reviewed
Serebrier/Reference
Recordings disc or Ancerl again to name two among many. The impression
grows on me with this new performance that your response to and pleasure in
it will be directly predicated upon your expectation of the composer and his
sound-world. For me Janáček needs to sound primal and elemental. This
does not imply crude or simply loud but instead imbued with a life-enhancing
pantheistic energy. It is not necessarily music that benefits from the modern
obsession for technical perfection. The skill of the performer is to tread
the tight-rope of complex execution and prowess that music this hard demands
while staying true to the spiritual simplicity and directness that lies at
the heart of much of this music. Consider Janáček’s most compelling operatic
characters; whether the animals in The Cunning Little Vixen, the eponymous
Jenufa or the prisoners in From the House of the Dead they are
all driven by the most basic of life’s imperatives; life love and death.
The liner includes a good note by Richard Whitehouse and a transliterated
text for the Mass with an English-only translation. There are other discs
with the same coupling but curiously I have not heard any of them although
collective opinion would seem to lean towards Simon Rattle early recordings
available on EMI as the best of the bunch. Wit has been at the helm of several
recordings in recent years that I consider as fine as any available – a stunning
Szymanowski Stabat Mater immediately springs to mind (Naxos;
EMI);
a work occupying much the same spiritual world as the Mass recorded here.
That being the case I have to admit to a degree of disappointment with this
disc although that is tempered by the pleasure in revisiting two of the most
individual masterpieces of the early 20th century repertoire.
Nick Barnard
A degree of disappointment but tempered by the pleasure in revisiting two
of the most individual masterpieces.