Janacek , 4 mouvement cycle In the mists, composed for piano around 1913

Hi Biggemski,

I had not heard this piece before, but was glad I listened. Janacek certainly creates a melancholy mood in this music. I noticed generous use of the whole-tone scale with fresh and captivating chords giving the piece an impressionistic sound overall. And, of course, in 1913 impressionism was at it's height. Again, I'm not familiar with the score but enjoyed hearing your rendition--very expressive playing!

David

Very well played Martin ! The stormy 'section' in the middle is not at all easy, Janacek's piano writing can be a bit awkward in places.
The piano sound is not ideal, a bit distant and swimmy, but not too bad for the site and we can put it up if you like.
Will you complete this interesting cycle ?

Hi
Thank You very much for You comments!
Dear Chris,
I do not consider to put this recording on the site, since there is some mistake, but thank You.
it is actually old ( 3 years? ) recording, but I plan to study the whole cycle once again and so I could record that after.
Yes, the stormy section is quite tricky:)

Dear David,
melancholy mood, whole-tone scale, quite impressionistic - yes, You get it exactly!

Also I never heard it before, and liked it very much. Your playing is very evocative and nicely paced.

Yes, thanks for introducing me to this as well.

If you go to re-record this, be sure to put a second of silence at the beginning. In this recording, the listener does not even hear the attack on the first note - we come in "mid-note".

I know this piece well but I can't say I heard any real mistakes, except for the strange fumble at the start of the last 'Con moto' section (which is IMO much too slow, yes it says non veloce, but it does not say Adagio). Dropped notes, of those there are some. It's a bit pedal-washed in places, and sometimes the pedal is a bit noisy, but apart from that this is a competent and enjoyable recording. But indeed if you plan the whole cycle, this should not go on the site.

yes, there is, unfortunately, mistake at 3:48, I had quite a blackout and few initial tones of the closing section are wrong But piano was nice, working well for this music

A very enjoyable performance, there's a real sense of drive and passion even in the way you play the main theme, making it sound insistent. The section around 2:10-ish - 2:30 sounds rather bland in comparison however, since it seems stuck in one dynamic level, but other than that it was very nice. You should definitely re-record the cycle; who knows what you might have gained in three years?

To Affinity: "insistent" - thats a very right word for Janáček's music;-). Yes, 2:10-2:30 is the hardest for me so I was happy to go through:-) . I can try to record it someday again. Thanks for comment.

I don't know this piece at all - my loss, I think. This is a persuasive recording; the mist is clearly evoked and a sensation of things coming and going in the gloom pervades it.