Most of Czech composer Leo? Janá ek?s music for solo Piano was produced during the relatively short period between 1900 and 1912. This was a period in which Janá ek suffered the death of his second child and had to come to terms with multiple rejections from the Prague music scene which denied the composer and his distinctive musical language the opportunity to participate in international musical developments until 1916 when his work finally managed to gain international recognition.In the Mists was composed during this period of great difficulty and despair in a house in the garden of the Brno Organ School hidden from the eyes ofthe world with a broken self confidence and a mind in a state of melancholy.Influenced by Debussy?s impressionism In the Mists is one of the most remarkable works in 20th-century Piano literature said to be 20 years ahead of its time. In the Bärenreiter Urtext edition Janá ek?s cycle is presented in the form that can be found in the Complete Critical Edition of the Works of Leo? Janá ek. A preface by Ji Zahrádka is also included in Czech English and German.Because of the virtuoso nature of Janá ek?s work it is more challenging and less accessible but extremely rewarding when mastered.

The composition ?1.X.1905 ? generally referred to as a ?sonata ? stems from the autumn of 1905 the peak of the riots between the Czech- and German-speaking populations in Janá ek?s hometown Brno. Reacting to the violent death of a Czech worker Janá ek wrote a three-part composition for Piano originally bearing the title ?From the Street on October 1 1905.? Dissatisfied with the work however Janá ek is said to have first burned the third movement in his fireplace and then thrown the remaining two movements into the Vltava even before its premiere. A copy of these first two movements on which thepublication of the first edition was later based is also missing today. For this reason the Urtext edition of G. Henle Publishers and Universal Edition is based solely on the first edition from 1924 which Janá ek expert Ji Zahrádka has carefully evaluated and annotated for this volume.

Classique / Sélection : Charles Hervé et Jacqueline Pouillard / Partition / Spirale /