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Leoơ Janáček: music is a being come alive

How did Janacek, so profoundly rooted in his Czech homeland, produce music so universally appealing, and what was the spur to his final decade of unprecedented creative energy?

How did Leoơ Janáček, a committed Czech nationalist whose intensely personal response to the places, landscapes and traditions of his Moravian homeland, produce music that is not only instantly recognisable but also viscerally connects to audiences all over the world? And how, in the last decade of Janáček's life, did a chance encounter with a woman almost 40 years his junior release a surely unparalleled burst of creative energy and a spate of late, great masterpieces?

Tom Service goes in search of Leoơ Janáček, composer and man, in the company of musicologist and conductor Nigel Simeone, and Relate Counsellor Simone Bose.

David Papp (producer)

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 23 Apr 2021 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Glagolitic mass

    Performer: Aleơ Bárta. Performer: Hibla Gerzmava. Performer: Jan Martiník. Performer: Stuart Neill. Performer: Veronika Hajnova. Performer: Prague Philharmonic Choir. Performer: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Jiƙí Bělohlávek.
    • Decca.
    • 483 4080.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Sinfonietta

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • LSO0850.

  • Leos Janáček

    Sinfonietta

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • LSO0850.

  • Leos Janáček

    Sedmdesat tisic [The seventy thousand] for male chorus

    Conductor: LubomĂ­r MĂĄtl. Performer: Moravian Teachers' Choir.
    • NAXOS.
    • 8.553623.

  • Leos Janáček

    The Makropulos case [Vec Makropulos] - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • DECCA.
    • 475 6872.

  • Leos Janáček

    Katya Kabanova - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Adolf Tomaschek. Performer: Dalibor Jedlička. Performer: Elisabeth Söderström. Performer: Gertrude Jahn. Performer: Heinz Dressel. Performer: Jaroslav Souček. Performer: Jitka Pavlova. Performer: Lubuse Marova. Performer: Nadezda Kniplova. Performer: Peter DvorskĂœ. Performer: VladimĂ­r Krejčík. Performer: Zdenek Svehla. Performer: Vienna State Opera Choir. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Decca 421 8522.
    • Decca 421 8522.

  • Leos Janáček

    Katya Kabanova - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Gabriela Beƈačková. Performer: Peter Straka. Performer: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 3739-2 032.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    Quartet no. 2 (Intimate letters) for strings

    Performer: Pavel Haas Quartet.
    • SUPRAPHON.
    • SU 38772.

  • Leos Janáček

    The Makropulos case [Vec Makropulos] - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Elisabeth Söderström. Performer: Vienna State Opera Choir. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • DECCA.
    • 475 6872.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 18 Apr 2021 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 23 Apr 2021 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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