The Moravian Teachers Choir is once of the best-known Czech ensembles, established by graduates of Kromeriz Teachers College in 1903. Their repertoire includes works by distinguished Czech composers from the turn of the century, focusing in this recording on Choruses for Male Voices by master composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928). Written in the intensely creative last decade of his life, after his opera "Jenufa's" long-overdue success. "Choruses," which is comprised of four groups, primarily based on Moravian folk songs, was written for unaccompanied male chorus, of which the MTC is recognized as one of the finest in the world. These are 21 powerful, romantic songs with wonderful harmonies, all in the Moravian language, but the short translation gives us their flavor: "Ploughing," "Our Birch Tree," "The Quilt," "Warning," "O Love," "Oh, to be a soldier," "Your Wondrous Eyes," "The Gnat's Wedding," "The Evening Ghost," "Seventy Thousand" (about the revolt of the Silesian miners), "The Wandering Madman," "Parting," "The Dove," "The Jealous Man," and "True Love." "Choruses" is a rich time capsule of rarely-heard folk melodies from one of the oldest and best all-male choruses. |
