Amazing Glagolitic Mass
A gripping and tumultuous performance of Janáček's most secular piece of sacred music, says Norman Lebrecht, who enjoys this faithful performance from Prague.
The Czech composer was far too original for conductors of his time, who kept toning down his scores to a manicured consistency. His breakthrough opera, Jenůfa, reached Prague in a modified version. Even after its global success Czech maestros kept tinkering with Janáček´s music, and not purely for musical reasons.
The Glagolitic Mass, written in the last year of the composer’s life, is driven by pagan rhythms and feral passion. Its premiere in December 1927 was modified to avoid offence to religious clergy and laity. This studio recording, by a Prague orchestra and chorus with rising-star conductor Tomáš Netopil, reverts to the composer’s final draft of September 1927 – ‘dishevelled and prickly’, before the baton beauty treatment.
The energies are infectious and the singing decidedly raw; at full volume, it may terrify small children, domestic animals and passing priests. As ever in Janáček, beauty arises from emotional ferocity, a blazing brand of organic truth. This is a gripping, tumultuous performance and it is coupled with a Janáček rarity – the 1914 Eternal Gospel – a conflictual riddle by a lifelong atheist.
Norman Lebrecht is a prolific commentator on music and cultural affairs and an award-winning novelist.
