Search - Leos Janacek, Håkon Austbø :: Janácek: Piano Works (Complete)

A pleasant surprise

Pieter | Cape Town, South Africa | 09/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Usually a disc of anybody's complete works for any solo instrument is a bit much for one sitting. It wasn't written to be heard in one go, after all. But there's so much variety in Janacek's compositions, you never get the feeling of overload. I'm not an expert but Hakon Austbo's playing seems top-class to me."

Better Than You Can Imagine

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 11/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Janacek's complete piano works fit comfortably on two CDs. His last piano compositions were titled "Intimate Sketches" but that title could well be applied to all his keyboard pieces. The previous reviewer, Pieter of South Africa, is right on the mark about the stupendous variety and originality of Janacek's piano music. Both the intimacy and the variety, I think, result from Janacek's musical "language", that is, from his remarkable transposition of the rhythms and tones of Czeck into music. This seems to me as much true of his keyboard works as of his operas; I seldom "hear" words when I listen to the piano as clearly as I do with Janacek.

Hakon Austbo performs these miniatures with complete authority. I have other recordings by better known pianists of Janacek's "On An Overgrown Path", but Austbo's is the most insightful. Even if you too have bits of Janacek on other disks already, this collection is well worth the modest price. Janacek has taken a hundred years to catch the musical world's attention, but he is the rising star in the constellation of 20th C composers."