Leos Janacek’s – Sinfonietta is another great album if you want to focus. It takes me to a slightly weird, brassy, happy place. From the opening bars of symphonic brass, this album hooked me. It fluctuates from peaceful and sweet, to confrontational and loud. I found that the somewhat erratic styles of this music don’t throw me at all. It is definitely not the kind of music I ever imagined liking.
This album has garnered a lot of attention in light of it being mentioned throughout IQ84, a magical realist novel by popular Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. The picture above is surprise surprise, from the novel. I have listened to a lot of the music name checked in Murakami’s novels, but this is the only one I consistently use to write to. The Sinfionetta is definitely dramatic, and if nothing else makes reading IQ84 a much more emotional experience. Murakami (full disclosure one of my favourite authors) taps into is the emotional journey that Janacek’s Sinfionetta takes you on.
It seems more like music that would be used on ads for the winter olympics than anything you would work to. After I wrote this I discovered it had indeed been used as a theme song in a seventies/eighties tv show, and was partly covered in a rock style by Emerson Lake and Palmer. The motifs and themes push me to write faster and then gives me some respite to slow down.
Released
First performed in 1926. This is a composition that I like, rather than any specific recording of it (I have not heard any I did not enjoy). It has been recorded by many artists and to my untrained ear none of the performances are different enough to be inconsistent. I’ve decided not to point you in the direction of any one version. The great thing is like most classical music there is a definite range of styles and ongoing life in performance. If you’re lucky you might actually get the chance to see this performed live.
Lyrics
A few lyrics
Mood
The Sinfionetta is powerful and contemplative in turn. It heats up then calms down. It is certainly a bold piece that sweeps me along. I can’t keep up super bold feelings, but it allows me to try out a few different moods.
Good to work to
I find this is great for contemplative work. From the opening moments of brass, it sends me to a different place to the norm. The byways, drama, and digressions of the piece add power to my words, and stops my mind from wandering too far.
Like
Not being a massive Classical music fan I find it hard to compare. It is orchestral, thematic, west, bold, brassy, and ominous at different times. Murakami has just come out with a new novel where he features Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage that is different but definitely worth a listen.
The Artist/s
Leos Janacek was a Czech composer, theorist and folklore researcher. Born in 1854 and dieing in 1928 he was a very important Czech composer, most know for operas such as the The Cunning Little Vixen. He was a contemporary of Schoenberg, and was influenced strongly by Dvorak and Puccini.
After a long career with little success. He worked as an academic and folklorist, and had a long term role working in an school teaching organ. Janacek’s in depth understanding of folk music deeply informed his music. He was known as the first minimalist composer.
The Sinfionetta was composed when Janacek was 72 and had technically retired. It was one of his most acclaimed works. Janacek created the majority of his best known works in the last ten years of his life.
Other works
Janacek has many other works such as Taras Bulba a rhapsody, Glagolitic Mass, and The Cunning Little Vixen
Where Can I buy it, and in what formats
You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding this album on CD or digitally. If you want a copy on vinyl you will probably have to find it second hand, but even there you should have the choice of multiple versions either packaged with some of his other works, or with other artists.
The Verdict
This works for me every time. I’d say go for it if you can handle classical and brass. This is not the kind of think I thought I would like. It is quite dramatic and bold, but somehow it takes me into a different world and allows me to concentrate.