Leoš Janáček: On An Overgrown Path Maia Brami, Camerata Zürich & Igor Karsko

• Josef Suk (1874 - 1935): Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale 'St. Wenceslas', Op. 35a:
• 1 Suk: Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale 'St. Wenceslas', Op. 35a: Adagio, ma con moto 06:23
• Leoš Janáček (1854 - 1928): On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I:
• 2 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 1. Our Evenings 02:38
• 3 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 2. A Blown-Away Leaf 02:15
• 4 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 3. Come With Us! 01:00
• 5 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 4. The Madonna of Frydek 03:07
• 6 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 5. They Chattered Like Swallows 01:36
• 7 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 6. Words Fail! 01:42
• 8 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 7. Good Night! 02:59
• 9 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 8. Unutterable Anguish 03:08
• 10 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 9. In Tears 02:28
• 11 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book I: 10. The Barn Owl Has Flown Away! 03:19
• Maia Brami (b. 1976): Spoken Word:
• 12 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - I. Il était une fois: Sur un sentier recouvert: I. Il était une fois 01:17
• 13 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - II. Tiens! Une feuille morte: Sur un sentier recouvert: II. Tiens! Une feuille morte 01:26
• 14 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - III. Nous danserons: Sur un sentier recouvert: III. Nous danserons 00:52
• 15 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - IV. Boum, boum: Sur un sentier recouvert: IV. Boum, boum 02:04
• 16 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - V. Combien de fois depuis: Sur un sentier recouvert: V. Combien de fois depuis 01:27
• 17 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - VI. Les ombres. C’est l’heure: Sur un sentier recouvert: VI. Les ombres. C’est l’heure 01:19
• 18 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - VII. Cette berceuse du fond: Sur un sentier recouvert: VII. Cette berceuse du fond 01:04
• 19 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - VIII. Des langues de feu: Sur un sentier recouvert: VIII. Des langues de feu 01:21
• 20 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - IX. Je l’entends qui sanglote: Sur un sentier recouvert: IX. Je l’entends qui sanglote 01:59
• 21 Brami: Sur un sentier recouvert - X. Entends-tu hibou: Sur un sentier recouvert: X. Entends-tu hibou 01:53
• Leoš Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book II:
• 22 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book II: 11. Andante 02:47
• 23 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Book II: 12. Allegretto – Presto 03:27
• 24 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Paralipomena: 13. Più mosso 02:54
• 25 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Paralipomena: 14. Vivo 02:39
• 26 Janáček: On An Overgrown Path (Po zarostlém chodnicku), JW 8/17 - Arr. Rumler for String Orchestra / Paralipomena: 15. Allegro 04:22
• Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904) Nocturne in B Major, Op.40:
• 27 Dvořák: Nocturne in B Major, Op.40: Molto adagio 06:09
• Total Runtime 01:07:35

Info for Leoš Janáček: On An Overgrown Path

On An Overgrown Path, Leoš Janáček’s 15 pieces-spanning piano cycle, is here presented in a reshaped guise, arranged for string orchestra and played by the Camerata Zürich under lead violinist Igor Karsko’s direction. This is the premiere recording of the adaption, written by Daniel Rumler in 2017. Janáček’s composition is based on autobiographical fragments – memories from his youth and of his daughter Olga that are additionally contextualised on the recording by readings of poems, written and recited explicitly for this project by the French writer Maïa Brami. Her words, combined with the elaborate string reworkings, establish an insightful setting for Janáček’s music and uncover fresh paths through the original scores. Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale St. Wenceslas and Antonín Dvořák’s Notturno, thematically bound to the cycle’s folkloric backdrop, create an appropriate frame.

Much of the cycle On An Overgrown Path – previously captured in its original design on the ECM New Series release A Recollection by András Schiff – had originally been conceived for harmonium, a popular domestic instrument in Janáček’s days, and was only later rearranged for piano, the instrument the remaining pieces were written for. Ultimately divided into two volumes – referred to as ‘books’, – the first, comprising ten pieces, was published in 1911, and the second posthumously in 1942. Moving seamlessly between subtle harmonic shifts, generous folkloric gestures and more somber scenes from Janáček’s past, the cycle’s nuances are respectfully translated to strings on the recording, and the alternatingly light and dark themes that flare up across the 15 pieces turn into a compelling chiaroscuro.

Violinist Daniel Rumler created the string arrangements at the suggestion of Igor Karsko, the Camerata’s concertmaster and current artistic director, who followed in the footsteps of Thomas Demenga, the ensemble’s director from 2011 to 2020. It was Demenga who had recruited Maïa Brami, asking the writer to draft texts to go along with the cycle. Brami has taken to the task with great care, opening little windows into Janáček’s memories, drawn from different aspects of the composer’s life. In a foreword to her texts, included in the booklet with liner notes by Thomas Meyer, Brami shares her thoughts on the cycle, as she imagines a seasoned Leoš Janáček returning to his native forest: “As I listened to the piece, I saw the old man, the halo of his white mane at dusk. I saw him go deep into the forest from which he had been torn as a child – that regained kingdom, an eternal source of inspiration – and go back in time for one last journey, to the overgrown path that symbolises life.”

In On An Overgrown Path, contrasts are omnipresent and reveal a rare wealth of colours and textures. After only a minute into “Our evenings”, the opening piece unveils everything from romantic sighs and pastoral idyll to interruptions by turbulent gloom, offering a short preview of the abundance of ideas and subjects that pervade the cycle. Outlining its essence, Thomas Meyer accurately summarizes On An Overgrown Path as: “a collection of intimate memories and inklings, for example of his (Janáček’s) own youth or of Olga, all captured in a spare, transparent and highly unusual tonal language.” As it’s divided among the strings of the Camerata Zürich, this tonal language is highlighted from a fresh perspective and endowed with new transparency.

Bookending On An Overgrown Path on both sides, Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale St. Wenceslas and Antonín Dvořák’s Notturno act as preface and epilogue to the cycle. The pieces’ connection to Janáček are exposed – besides the obvious fact that their composers are all Czech – by Janáček, Dvořák and Suk’s common concern for Bohemian folklore. Suk, Dvořák’s pupil and son-in-law, created his meditation after the outbreak of World War I “in the hope of Czech independence from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy,” basing it on the 12th century chorale as an act of rebellion. Dvořák’s single-movement composition, originally the slow movement of his early string quartet No. 4 in E minor, had been used in an abbreviated form as the first of two slow movements in his string quintet in G major, Op. 77, but was later excised and re-arranged to the version presented here. Its patient harmonic pulse receives a vivacious treatment by the Camerata Zürich, concluding the programme on a hopeful note.

Maïa Brami, speaker
Camerata Zürich
Igor Karsko, direction, lead violin

Camerata Zürich
Die Camerata Zürich gehört heute zu den führenden Kammerorchestern der Schweiz. Sie profiliert sich als schlank besetztes Kammerorchester, das mit Agilität und hoher Klangsensibilität interpretatorische Massstäbe setzt. Mit über hundert Ur- und Erstaufführungen spielt die Camerata Zürich eine wichtige Rolle für die zeitgenössische Musik in der Schweiz. Darüber hinaus ist das Orchester für das Entstehen eines modernen Schweizer Kammerorchesterrepertoires mitverantwortlich. Neben neuer Musik bilden selten gespielte, oft auch wiederentdeckte Werke der Klassik und Romantik den Schwerpunkt des Repertoires.

Camerata Zürich wurde 1957 vom Schweizer Dirigenten Räto Tschupp gegründet. Nach Räto Tschupp, Marc Kissóczy und Thomas Demenga wirkt seit der Saison 20/21 Igor Karsko als Künstlerischer Leiter des Orchesters.

Igor Karsko
studierte bei K. Petroczi am Konservatorium Kosice und an der Musikakademie Prag bei Jiri Tomasek. 1991 wurde er von Lord Yehudi Menuhin an die Menuhin – Akademie in Gstaad eingeladen. Er war Mitglied der Camerata Lysy und des Gustav Mahler Jugendsinfonieorchester unter Claudio Abbado sowie Konzertmeister der Staatlichen Philharmonie Kosice. Seit 1991 ist er Mitglied des "The Serenade Strings Trios", welches u. a. erste Preise an den Internationalen Kammermusikwettbewerben von Caltanissetta 1991und Trapani (IT) gewann.

Er ist Co-Leiter des Kammermusikfestivals Convergence, Konzertmeister der Camerata Zürich, Gastkonzertmeister beim Zürcher Kammerorchester und den Musiciens du Louvre mit Marc Minkowski sowie Mitbegründer des Barockensembles La Gioconda, mit welchem er mehrere erfolgreiche Opernproduktionen realisierte. Zwischen 1993 und 2012 war er 1. Konzertmeister des Luzerner Sinfonieorchesters.

Igor Karsko wirkt als Dozent an der Musikhochschule in Luzern und befasst sich intensiv mit der Barockgeige und der historischen Auführungspraxis. Er spielt die berühmte Violine "Il Viotti von Lorenzo Storioni (Cremona 1768) und eine Barockgeige von Nicola Gagliano.

Booklet for Leoš Janáček: On An Overgrown Path