Leoš Janáček - On an Overgrown Path: Book II {Po zarostlém chodníčku}

Описание: Composer: Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 -- 12 August 1928)
Performer: Radoslav Kvapil (piano)
Year of recording: 1994

On an Overgrown Path {Po zarostlém chodníčku} volume 2, for piano, JW 8/17, written in 1900-1911.

00:00 - 1. (11.) Andante
03:03 - 2. (12.) Allegretto - Presto
07:05 - 3a. (13a.) Più mosso
09:50 - 3b. (13b.) Vivo
12:37 - 3c. (13c.) Allegro

"On an Overgrown Path" is a cycle of thirteen piano pieces written by Leoš Janáček and organized into two volumes, this is the second volume.

Janáček composed all his most important works for solo piano from 1900 to 1912. He probably began preparing his first series of Moravian folk melodies in 1900. At this time, the cycle had only six pieces intended for harmonium: Our evenings, A blown-away leaf, The Frýdek Madonna, Good night!, The barn owl has not flown away! and a Piu mosso published after Janáček's death. These melodies provided the basis for the first volume of "On an Overgrown Path."

Three of these compositions were first published in 1901 with the fifth volume of harmonium pieces Slavic melodies under the title 'On an overgrown path - three short compositions'. The cycle had grown to nine pieces in 1908, and was intended for piano instead of harmonium at that time. The definitive version of the first book was published in 1911. On 30 September 1911, Janáček published the first piece of the second series in the Lidové noviny newspapers. The new series was created in its entirety around 1911. The complete second book was printed by the Hudební matice in 1942.

The première of the work took place on 6 January 1905 at the Besední dům Hall in Brno. Less experimental than his later works, these miniatures are reminiscent of Schumann and Grieg, but with the composer's own unique style still evident. They are among the composer's most understated and pained utterances.