Janáček: Piano Works Olena Kushpler

• Leoš Janáček (1854 - 1928): In the Mists:
• 1Janáček: In the Mists: I. Andante03:40
• 2Janáček: In the Mists: II. Molto adagio05:05
• 3Janáček: In the Mists: III. Andantino03:43
• 4Janáček: In the Mists: IV. Presto - meno mosso05:33
• On an overgrown path, Book I:
• 5Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 1, Our Evenings03:44
• 6Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 2, A Blown-Away Leaf02:28
• 7Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 3, Come With Us!01:33
• 8Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 4, The Frýdeck Madonna04:38
• 9Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 5, They Chattered Like Swallows02:47
• 10Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 6, Words Fail!02:21
• 11Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 7, Good Night!03:19
• 12Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 8, Unutterable Anguish04:46
• 13Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 9, In Tears03:17
• 14Janáček: On an overgrown path, Book I: No. 10, The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away03:50
• Intimate Sketches:
• 15Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 1, Malostransky Palace00:51
• 16Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 2, Unitled00:50
• 17Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 3, Melody00:44
• 18Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 4, Moderato01:13
• 19Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 5, Just Blind Fate?01:07
• 20Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 6, So You Can Never Return01:27
• 21Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 7, The Golden Ring00:29
• 22Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 8, Waiting For You01:22
• 23Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 9, Rondo01:39
• 24Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 10, In Memoriam01:45
• 25Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 11, My Olga00:51
• 26Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 12, Lullaby01:14
• Leoš Janáček:
• 27Janáček: A Recollection01:32
• 28Janáček: Intimate Sketches: No. 13, Lord Jesus Christ is Born01:02
• Total Runtime01:06:50

Info for Janáček: Piano Works

The Ukrainian born Olena Kushpler is a German pianist, living in Hamburg. Janácek has written various piano works, cycles like in the mists or on an overgrown path but also very small and little pieces, which Ms Kushpler is reading as a personal diary of Janácek, very rarely played and recorded. Olena Kushpler has grown up already with her intensive love for Janácek's music.

Ever since my youth I have been fascinated by the music of Leoš Janáček: initially by his vocal works, particularly Jenufa, an opera with an unadulterated ‘peasant’ tone of such radical authenticity that it transforms itself into avant-garde music. I only discovered Janáček’s piano repertoire at a later date, and immediately grasped his basic aesthetic principle: he wanted to write a music of truth. Virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake had no place in his approach.

I understood that the Bohemian master staked out a clear position in the great musical debate of the 1800s. It raged, on the one hand, between formal aesthetics, which viewed music as “sonically moving forms” (in the words of Vienna critic doyen Eduard Hanslick), and, on the other hand, the musical content aesthetics of Berlioz, Schumann, Wagner, and Bruckner, who devoted their efforts to transforming poetry and even philosophy into music. In Janáček, I also feel that he strives to imbue each phrase with profound expression, thereby creating music that reflects his feelings, hopes, and disappointments.

Janáček’s music draws its energy from contrasts, which can be violent at times: each piece contains moments of brilliant luminosity as well as dramatic conflict. I view his piano cycle On An Overgrown Path as a clearly autobiographical work that reflects the experiences and moods he encountered in real life. The death of his daughter Olga led to profound despair, and the titles of individual pieces reflect how a father’s thoughts revolved around the memories of his lost child. Our Evenings, A Blown-Away Leaf, and Words Fail are all individual pieces that foreshadow the tragedy to come. The cycle culminates in The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!, and we can note that folk belief viewed the barn owl as an ominous messenger of death.

I read Janáček’s piano minisatures as intimate sketches from a diary he was keeping: personal thoughts turn into musical ideas. He wrote the Rondo when he was a young student, and The Golden Ring was his last composition, dated 8 August 1928, four days before his passing. These “diary entries” thus encompass Janáček’s entire life, and for me they are treasures of inestimable value. (Olena Kushpler).

Olena Kushpler, piano

Olena Kushpler
Die ukrainisch-stämmige deutsche Pianistin Olena Kushpler wird vom Publikum und von der Presse für ihr sensibles und farbenreiches Spiel gerühmt. „Beeindruckend, wie sie es schafft, den Hörer zu fesseln. Da scheint die Zeit still zu stehen.“ (NDR Kultur). Als „große Geschichtenerzählerin“ wurde sie vom Hamburger Abendblatt bezeichnet.

Die mehrfach ausgezeichnete Pianistin war Gast in international renommierten Konzertsälen wie dem Konzerthaus Berlin, der Tonhalle Düsseldorf, der Hamburger Elbphilharmonie, dem Musikverein Wien u.a. sowie bei bedeutenden Festivals wie dem Rheingau-Musikfestival, dem Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, den Festspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, den Musikfestspielen Saar u.v.m.

Ihre künstlerische Tätigkeit ist in zahlreichen CD- und Rundfunk-Aufnahmen dokumentiert und wurde u.a. beim BR, NDR, SWR und bei Deutschlandradio Kultur gesendet.

Neben ihren solistischen und kammermusikalischen Auftritten u.a. mit Peter Schreier, Martin Grubinger, Zoryana Kushpler und ihrem Bonnard Trio hat Olena Kushpler mit Bühnen-Partnern wie Roger Willemsen, Iris Berben, Barbara Auer, Ulrich Tukur, Christian Redl und Charly Hübner literarisch-musikalische Programme konzipiert und aufgeführt sowie als Gründerin und Künstlerische Leiterin das Festival „Kontraste“ geleitet.

Sie war Masefield-Preisträgerin der Alfred-Töpfer-Stiftung, Stipendiatin mehrerer Stiftungen, unter anderem des DAAD, der Emma-Beit-Stiftung, der Budge-Stiftung und der Franz-Wirth-Stiftung. Außerdem wurde sie mit dem Ritter-Preis der Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung ausgezeichnet und erhielt den Berenberg-Kulturpreis.

Olena Kushpler studierte zunächst an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Lemberg bei Josef Jermin, bevor sie ihr Studium in Hamburg bei Volker Banfield und Evgeni Koroliov vervollkommnete. Wertvolle künstlerische Anregungen erhielt sie in der Zusammenarbeit mit Wolfram Rieger, Norman Shetler sowie im Aufbaustudium Kammermusik an der Musikhochschule Köln beim Alban Berg Quartett.

Booklet for Janáček: Piano Works