Janáček: Piano Works Lars Vogt

• Leoš Janáček (1854 - 1928): Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, JW VIII/19:
• 1Janáček: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, JW VIII/19: I. Foreboding05:34
• 2Janáček: Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, JW VIII/19: II. Death06:43
• In the Mists, JW VIII/22:
• 3Janáček: In the Mists, JW VIII/22: I. Andante03:08
• 4Janáček: In the Mists, JW VIII/22: II. Molto adagio04:20
• 5Janáček: In the Mists, JW VIII/22: III. Andantino02:21
• 6Janáček: In the Mists, JW VIII/22: IV. Presto05:02
• On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1:
• 7Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 1, Our Evenings02:57
• 8Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 2, A Blown-Away Leaf02:38
• 9Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 3, Come with Us!01:29
• 10Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 4, The Madonna of Frydek02:56
• 11Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 5, They Chattered Like Swallows02:01
• 12Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 6, Words Fail!01:59
• 13Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 7, Good Night!02:46
• 14Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 8, Unutterable Anguish03:55
• 15Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 9, In Tears02:36
• 16Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: No. 10, The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!03:44
• On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2:
• 17Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2: No. 11, Andante03:07
• 18Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2: No. 12, Allegretto - Presto02:58
• 19Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2: No. 13, Più mosso02:51
• 20Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2: No. 14, Allegro05:40
• 21Janáček: On an Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 2: No. 15, Vivo01:55
• Total Runtime01:10:40

Info for Janáček: Piano Works

Pianist Lars Vogt’s new solo album release is dedicated to the piano works of Leoš Janácek (1854–1928), one of the most original voices among the 20th century composers. This album includes three of the composer’s most well-known and most extensive solo piano works. These works by Janácek are marked by deep melancholy and passion. They manifest the composer's rich inner world through a musical language that remains to be timeless.

On an Overgrown Path is a piano cycle which took many shapes during a period of a decade when the composer was slowly sketching the work. The first book containing ten pieces was published in 1911. Already the same year Janáček started drafting a second book which was never completed during the composer’s lifetime: a collection of 5 pieces for the second book was published in the 1940s. These short and fragmentary pieces with evocative titles are filled with deep and mysterious atmosphere. Janáček’s popular In the Mists is a short cycle of piano pieces written in 1912, immediately after the completion of the first book of On an Overgrown Path. These melancholic pieces are hinting towards the harmonies of Debussy without ever losing their essentially Janáčekian characteristics. Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905 ‘From the Street’ is what remains of an originally three-movement piano sonata premiered in 1906. The work was inspired by the killing of a young worker during a demonstration in Brno on 1 October 1905. The composer was not satisfied with the score and destroyed it later regretting this impulsive act. Fortunately, first two movements of this deeply intensive work were re-discovered and published in 1924.

Lars Vogt, piano

Lars Vogt
has rapidly established himself as one of the leading pianists of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for over twenty years. His versatility as an artist ranges from the core classical repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto. A keen chamber musician, Lars Vogt is now increasingly working with orchestras both as conductor and directing from the keyboard.

Lars Vogt opened the 2012/13 season performing the Lutoslawski Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Moest at the Edinburgh Festival. He returns to the Cleveland Orchestra later in the season and additional North American appearances feature the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and a recital at the Y in New York. Other highlights of the season include concerts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Riccardo Chailly, two appearances in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris under Herbert Blomstedt and with the Orchestre National under Kurt Masur, and the conclusion of his residency with the Netherlands Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam. He also appears with Vienna Radio Symphony, NDR Hamburg, Swedish Radio, Brussels Philharmonic and the Liceu Opera Orchestra, Barcelona. In the UK he performs Beethoven concerti with the London Philharmonic under Christoph Eschenbach, London Symphony under Daniel Harding and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons.

During the 2011/12 season Lars Vogt made several appearances in North America, performing with orchestras in Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Seattle and undertaking an extensive tour with Christian Tetzlaff to New York, Philadelphia and other major cities. Concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra featured prominently both with Vladimir Jurowski in London and on tour in the UK and Germany with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Other concerto engagements included the New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Spain and orchestras in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Milan, Florence and Copenhagen. Recital appearances featured the International Piano Series in London and the Konzerthaus, Vienna.

Lars Vogt’s special relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic has continued with regular collaborations following his appointment as their first ever “Pianist in Residence” in 2003/4. He has also worked with many other German orchestras including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerische Rundfunk, Frankfurt Radio, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Guerzenich Cologne and Deutscheskammerphilharmonie Bremen. Other highlights over recent seasons have included many appearances at the BBC Proms and a residency at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg with the Vienna Philharmonic/Christoph Eschenbach and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding; as well as appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Swedish Radio, Finnish Radio, Czech Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris.

Lars Vogt enjoys a high profile as a chamber musician and recent appearances have included London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Rome and New York. In June 1998 he founded his own festival in Heimbach, Germany. Known as “Spannungen”, its huge success has been marked by the release of ten live recordings on EMI. He enjoys regular partnerships with colleagues such as Christian Tetzlaff and Thomas Quasthoff and collaborates occasionally with actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher. In 2005 he founded “Rhapsody in School” which has become a high profile education project across Germany. Lars Vogt is also an accomplished and enthusiastic teacher and was recently appointed Professor of Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, his teacher and close friend who died in June 2012.

As an EMI recording artist, Lars Vogt made fifteen discs for the label, including the Hindemith Kammermusik No 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado, the Schumann, Grieg and the first two Beethoven Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle, who has described him as "one of the most extraordinary musicians of any age group that I have had the fortune to be associated with". Recent recordings include solo Schubert for CAvi-music and Mozart Concerti with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra for Oehms, a solo Liszt and Schumann disc on the Berlin Classics label and Mozart Sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff for Ondine.

Booklet for Janáček: Piano Works