I’ve
listed the titles above as they appear on this disc, but
before anyone gets too excited, the more obscure sounding
titles translate as
On an Overgrown Path and
In
the Mist, and are some of Janáček’s best known
piano pieces. Readers looking for a complete set of the
piano works are politely steered towards that on
Arcodiva rather
than that with Håkon Austbo on Brilliant
Classics, which has some fine qualities but in the end
is rather dull and uninspiring to my ears. For these pieces
I’ve compared this new recording by Hélène Couvert to that
covering the same programme from Josef Páleníček on
a 1990 Supraphon CD of his 1972 recordings 10 1481-2. This
seems to be hard to come by at the moment, but has been
re-released as part of an attractive looking 2005 two disc
set with the
Concertino and
Capriccio.
I
wouldn’t normally start a review with flurries of alternatives,
but these are popular pieces, and Hélène Couvert’s new
CD has to be seen in context. For a start, she takes over
14 minutes longer over the same programme than Páleníček,
so this might give you an idea of what to expect. I’m not
against taking a broader view of this or any other music,
and the comparably resonant acoustic in which her performances
have been recorded do support a more elegiac style of playing.
These pieces come from a period in Janáček’s life
when he was isolated and lonely. They were dark years,
in which his daughter Olga died, his married life was not
going well, and his operatic output was being rejected
in Prague. There is a lot of grief and impotent rage in
both
On an Overgrown Path and
In the Mist,
and the
Sonata 1.X.1905,
originally titled
Street
Scene, or
From the Street, 1 October 1905 is
descriptive of the death of a Czech worker killed during
a nationalist rally in Brno, and including all of the emotional
turmoil and fury which was the composer’s response. This
was also a time of a crisis of confidence, with Janáček
destroying scores including as much of the
Sonata as
he could get his hands on, the surviving movements having
been rescued by the pianist at the premiere.
Beautiful
as Hélène Couvert’s playing undoubtedly is, I don’t hear
much of the stress, angst, fear and fury which lies behind
the notes. She is very good with the longing, nostalgic,
sometimes almost sentimental aspects of the music, but
the craggy interruptions, symbolic screeching owls and
disturbing, uneasy imagery of the
Sonata and elsewhere
are ironed somewhat flat in a gorgeous boudoir of perfect,
perfumed piano playing. Yes, there
is contrast,
but when compared with Páleníček the tears and anguish
are hidden behind a gauze of gorgeousness. Take the
Molto
adagio of
In the Mist and you will hear immediately
what I mean. Páleníček brings out howling, almost
vocal lines which drag at your emotional reserves and either
make you want to hide behind the sofa or rend your garments
in despair. Couvert does none of these things for me. There
are no tears in a very flat sounding
V pláči,
and the final
presto of
In the Mist times
in at 6:24 to Páleníček’s 4:00: ’nuff said. There
are moments when she seems more interested in the sound
of the piano than with the intent of the music. Take
The
Holy Virgin of Frýdek movement, number 4 of
On an
Overgrown Path, where relishing the fine resonance
of the low notes almost seems to take over at times. Admittedly,
a certain amount of lingering sustain is a fine thing here
and there, and can be a reflection of the origins of some
of these pieces as having originally been written for harmonium.
It does however sometimes seem as if Couvert is listening
more to the instrument than to the composer.
Don’t
get me wrong, this is a beautifully recorded and performed
disc. If you’ve tried Janáček’s piano music and found
it a bit much to handle then this could well be the one
for you. This is a romantic Janáček as seen through
the lenses of Erik Satie or Claude Debussy, and I don’t
deny anyone the right to approach these pieces in that
way –
vive la difference as they say. To my ear
however, the emotive poetry of this music has more to express
than is given us in this nice, safe rendition.
Dominy Clements
Hélène Couvert
(piano) 
