The piano music of Leo? Janácek has a superficial veneer of the salon. The movements are short and programmatic, even in the two-movement Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, but beginning immediately beneath the surface are psychological intricacies, and the music poses considerable difficulties for interpreters. For one thing, the dynamic levels remain low except for occasional eruptions; the pianist has to create subtle shades within a relatively narrow range. Pianist Lars Vogt supplies these shades in abundance, and he draws the ...
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The piano music of Leo? Janácek has a superficial veneer of the salon. The movements are short and programmatic, even in the two-movement Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, but beginning immediately beneath the surface are psychological intricacies, and the music poses considerable difficulties for interpreters. For one thing, the dynamic levels remain low except for occasional eruptions; the pianist has to create subtle shades within a relatively narrow range. Pianist Lars Vogt supplies these shades in abundance, and he draws the listener into the music's inner world. Consider the two books of On an Overgrown Path. The work is a unified entity, but for Book Two, Janácek gives Italian tempo indications rather than the programmatic titles of Book One ("The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!"). It's a slight shift, indicating that the Czech scenes and moods of the first book have been raised to a level that is just a bit more abstract. It's a distinction many pianists simply plow through, but Vogt handles it masterfully....
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