ORFEO International – Reviews

Important Releases Briefly Introduced

February 2020

Leoš Janáček, The Diary of One Who Disappeared

Leoš Janá ek (1854–1928) composed the
C 989 201song cycle The Diary Of One Who Disappeared at a time when many people already considered him on a par with the other two masters of Czech national music, Smetana and Dvo ák. The inspiration for the autobiographical Diary came from a few enigmatic lines of poetry in two editions of the Lidove noviny (People’s Newspaper) published in May 1916.
Although this work is Janá ek’s most important original song cycle, his keen interest in the folk songs and dances of his Moravian homeland resulted in a plethora of arrangements, making this music accessible also for the classical concert hall. These include the Six folksongs sung by Eva Gabel (Šest národních písní jež zpívala Gabel Eva) and the Songs from Detva (Písneˇ detvanské). Quite unlike the songs of the Diary, which chiefly make reference to the Moravian dialect, the arrangements evince the typically ethnic-sounding music that Janá ek refined, so to speak, by adding a sophisticated piano part to adaptations of the existing melody lines, reflecting the tradition of the great song compositions of the 19th century.
Having explored songs by Mozart and Schubert on previous acclaimed albums, Slovak tenor Pavol Breslik now presents works by Czech composer Leoš Janá ek in his fourth album for ORFEO.