BaL 8.06.19 - Janácek: Glagolitic Mass

[makropulos]

According to my researches, the Glagolitic Mass was first heard in the provinces at the Leeds Festival in October 1953, a mere 65 years ago. It was sung by 170 voices of the Bradford Festival Choral Society who had practised it tirelessly for 6 months. It had been programmed at the behest of Lord Harewood who arranged for Julius Patzak to sing the tenor solos. Benjamin Britten was in the audience and Maurice Miles was the rather daunted conductor (a time there was when I knew Maurice's brother, Philip, who was a brilliant Bournemouth organist made erratic by drink). Here's the Yorkshire Post's veteran critic, Ernest Bradbury, introducing the work:

"Last night's concert of the Leeds Musical Festival had a more varied programme than on previous evenings and it ended with another modern work of extreme difficulty for the performers. This was again a work fit for a Festival, one which, in a sense, we were privileged to hear, for it has involved much rehearsal time and had called for much special preparation, so that we can hardly expect to encounter it frequently. Whatever we may think after single performance, Janacek its composer writes music of a fairly simple and direct utterance. His work reflects his native Moravia: every bar is shot through with peasant rhythms and influenced by native folk-song. Janacek is a nationalist, not less than Dvorak or Smetana, and we must come to terms with him, first forgetting our English ears."

If anyone knows of, or sang in, an earlier performance outside London, tell us, please.

The first UK performance was given at the Norwich Festival on 23 October 1930, conducted by Henry Wood.

[makropulos]

Interesting BAL, and the choices of Ančerl and Mackerras were the ones I went for when I did a long comparative survey (including some very little-known performances) a few years ago in the late-lamented IRR. The choice of Bělohlávek is one that puzzles me greatly–it seems to me a pretty dull performance of a version Janáček considered to be a work in progress. By the time of the second performance he had made most of the revisions (unprompted by claims to difficulty, but according to his usual working methods). Glad that Jílek has had a mention further up this thread –I think I undervalued it back when I did my survey, and agree that it has plenty going for it. But still, for me, it's down to Ančerl and Mackerras (both Supraphon versions and the Chandos one, for different reasons).

If anybody is interested in reading my IRR piece, it was published the March 2012 issue (pp. 26–31) and includes quite a detailed discography of releases up to that point (so before Netopil, Gardner and Bělohlávek's Decca performance, but including an off-air recording of his 2011 Proms performance which was, I thought, far better). I would be happy send a PDF if you send me a private message.

[edashtav]

The first UK performance was given at the Norwich Festival on 23 October 1930, conducted by Henry Wood.

Many thanks, Makropulos. Here's a quote from the Yorkshire Post some three days after that premiere. You will see why my simplistic on-line trawl missed this momentous event [my emphases... note I've yet to amend the O.C.R. Transcription]

"...When I arrived at St. Andrew s Hall, yesterday afternoon, Sir Henry Wood was rehearsing one of thr novelties, Janacek's " Slavonic Mass," and the evening Mr. Arthur Bliss rehearsed another novelty, his cantata " Morning Heroes." It would, course, premature to attempt any criticism these works, which are couched modern idioms that are still strange to most of us, but their difficulty allowed one to come to one conclusion that this is most efficient chorus.I can remember the days when one regarded the Norwich chorus as the weakest all Festival choirs. The material has not changed and the voices do not impress one as being outstanding power or quality, but after all the distinction of a chorus depends chiefly upon the chorus master, and it was quite apparent that Dr. Haydon Hare well deserved the warm and obviously sincere tribute paid to him at the end of the evening rehearsal by Sir Henry Wood, whose influence and teaching, the way, the improvement in the Norwich chorus is in great measure due."

[makropulos]

That's a nice quote. The Daily Mail (!) on 24 October came up with this: 'Norfolk people, known for their placidity, were not to be expected to capture the spirit of boisterous Bohemian rustics…If the music suggested any religious occasion it was the dedication of a new railway station.'

[Bryn]

That's a nice quote. The Daily Mail (!) on 24 October came up with this: 'Norfolk people, known for their placidity, were not to be expected to capture the spirit of boisterous Bohemian rustics…If the music suggested any religious occasion it was the dedication of a new railway station.'

That would be the Dvorak influence, I suppose.

[edashtav]

That's a nice quote. The Daily Mail (!) on 24 October came up with this: 'Norfolk people, known for their placidity, were not to be expected to capture the spirit of boisterous Bohemian rustics…If the music suggested any religious occasion it was the dedication of a new railway station.'

Nothing like a bit of good in-breeding!

[Master Jacques]

That's a nice quote. The Daily Mail (!) on 24 October came up with this: 'Norfolk people, known for their placidity, were not to be expected to capture the spirit of boisterous Bohemian rustics…If the music suggested any religious occasion it was the dedication of a new railway station.'

Oddly enough, not a million miles from the truth, as it was written for the dedication of a futuristic new sports hall!

I've had the pleasure of hearing it in that sports hall, at the Brno Janacek festival a few years ago. It was so momentous an occasion - the first time the Mass had been played there since the premiere - that Lady Rattle showed up to do the cough-and-spit which is the mezzo solo role.

One of the thrills that evening, was to hear how splendid the hall's organ is. It emerged from the programme notes, that Prague's Rudolfinium had just replaced its monster organ with a modern model, so the Brno city council snapped up the old one for their new sports hall. It sounded magnificent, as did the whole piece in that gymnasium acoustic!

[HighlandDougie]

It is different, and to my ears the Ancerl Gold issue is over-processed, though smoother and less edgy than the Crystal Collection (and other, early Supraphon CD issues). The lower strings in particular sound muffled and strange on the newer transfer.

I don't think Supraphon's engineers did too well, either with the Ancerl Gold or Talich collections, both of which represent regressions from the earlier transfers in audibly important ways.

I'm definitely with Master J on his preference for the Crystal Collection issue. Having irritated TOH by switching between the CC and Ančerl issues in a series of bleeding chunks, I hesitate to disagree with Bryn and others who find the AG version to be an improvement but I find the earlier one clearer and more "present". I think that "over-processed" is a good description of the AG version. Maybe it's the ATC speakers. Horses for courses, of course, and the differences aren't so obvious as to make anyone opting for the AG version feeling in any way short-changed with it. Great recording for its age (that's the Rudolfinium for you) - and a worthy BaL winner. The 'Taras Bulba' isn't half bad either (although neither the CC or AG pressings are as good as the Japanese one I bought last year).

[makropulos]

I'm definitely with Master J on his preference for the Crystal Collection issue. Having irritated TOH by switching between the CC and Ančerl issues in a series of bleeding chunks, I hesitate to disagree with Bryn and others who find the AG version to be an improvement but I find the earlier one clearer and more "present". I think that "over-processed" is a good description of the AG version. Maybe it's the ATC speakers. Horses for courses, of course, and the differences aren't so obvious as to make anyone opting for the AG version feeling in any way short-changed with it. Great recording for its age (that's the Rudolfinium for you) - and a worthy BaL winner. The 'Taras Bulba' isn't half bad either (although neither the CC or AG pressings are as good as the Japanese one I bought last year).

Definitely agree with you about the sound on the Japanese issue of KA's Glagolitic Mass. My copy is on COCQ-84483, and the couple is KA's wonderful Alexander Nevsky.

[makropulos]

Oddly enough, not a million miles from the truth, as it was written for the dedication of a futuristic new sports hall!

I've had the pleasure of hearing it in that sports hall, at the Brno Janacek festival a few years ago. It was so momentous an occasion - the first time the Mass had been played there since the premiere

I wish I'd been able to get to that performance –it must have been thrilling. But it is certainly not the first time the Mass has been played in the Stadion since the premiere. I have a large (enormous) poster of Jaroslav Vogel conducting it there on 28 and 29 October 1965 with the Brno Beseda Choir and Brno State Philharmonic. It's also interesting to note that Jílek's recording was made in the Stadion (albeit while it was empty, which makes something of a difference).

[Master Jacques]

Definitely agree with you about the sound on the Japanese issue of KA's Glagolitic Mass. My copy is on COCQ-84483, and the couple is KA's wonderful Alexander Nevsky.

Oh curses! I can feel a necessary Japanese import coming on ... again ... sigh ...

[makropulos]

Hm. If it didn't keep telling me that a .jpg is an "invalid file" , I'd upload a nice photo of the interior of the Stadion taken in March 1928 (three months after the prem. of the Glagolitic Mass) with the same conductor, choir and orchestra on the platform. Is anybody able to tell me what I'm doing wrong when trying to upload?

[Goon525]

Hm. If it didn't keep telling me that a .jpg is an "invalid file" , I'd upload a nice photo of the interior of the Stadion taken in March 1928 (three months after the prem. of the Glagolitic Mass) with the same conductor, choir and orchestra on the platform. Is anybody able to tell me what I'm doing wrong when trying to upload?

I’m no administrator here, but you might try altering .jpg to .jpeg - it could just work.

[Master Jacques]

I wish I'd been able to get to that performance –it must have been thrilling. But it is certainly not the first time the Mass has been played in the Stadion since the premiere. I have a large (enormous) poster of Jaroslav Vogel conducting it there on 28 and 29 October 1965 with the Brno Beseda Choir and Brno State Philharmonic. It's also interesting to note that Jílek's recording was made in the Stadion (albeit while it was empty, which makes something of a difference).

Indeed yes - thank you for the correction.

I ought to have added "first time since the premiere performance ... in its original form". Though those weasel words, as we know, hide a lot of complexity, the 2014 performance used that as its selling point. We certainly got the Intrada twice, at the beginning as well as the end, which I for one did not object to! It was coupled with a superlative performance of The Lord's Prayer. This, by the way, was the roster:

Jaroslav Kyzlink – conductor
Orchestra of the Janáček Opera of the Brno National Theatre
Chorus of the Janáček Opera of the Brno National Theatre
Brno Philharmonic Chorus of the Brno Beseda
Josef Pancík – choirmaster

Petr Kolar – organ
Maria Kobielska – soprano
Magdalena Kožená – alto
Michal Lehotský – tenor
Gustáv Belácek – bass
Lenka Koplová – solo violin

[makropulos]

Indeed yes - thank you for the correction.

I ought to have added "first time since the premiere performance ... in its original form". Though those weasel words, as we know, hide a lot of complexity, the 2014 performance used that as its selling point. We certainly got the Intrada twice, at the beginning as well as the end, which I for one did not object to! It was coupled with a superlative performance of The Lord's Prayer. This, by the way, was the roster:

Jaroslav Kyzlink – conductor
Orchestra of the Janáček Opera of the Brno National Theatre
Chorus of the Janáček Opera of the Brno National Theatre
Brno Philharmonic Chorus of the Brno Beseda
Josef Pancík – choirmaster

Petr Kolar – organ
Maria Kobielska – soprano
Magdalena Kožená – alto
Michal Lehotský – tenor
Gustáv Belácek – bass
Lenka Koplová – solo violin

I'm frankly envious –and yes, completely take your point about in its original form.