Thanks very much, I'm glad I could help you find music that you've enjoyed over the years!

You are too modest, Mr. Glass. While performance practice of the Mass may have moved on, the Bernstein recording at that time hit like a ton or bricks.....got great publicity and sold well and (I think) is still available. And in its own way, it has its own charms (authentic or not as the case may be). I will definitely be checking out some of performances mentioned above.

@@gjb9231 Very glad you made me listen again, which I had not done when I wrote to Dave regarding his roundup of Glagolitics. Unlike the comparison mavens I have not listened to a dozen recordings of the work (maybe half that). But my introduction to it was via an optimally "authentic" interpretation, by conductor Bretislav Bakala and Brno forces in a Supraphon recording distributed in the U.S. by a fly-by-night outfit named Artia-Parliament, which was valuable for its dissemination of Czech music, much of it little or unknown in the U.S. ca. 1960 -- and for which I worked, with the laughable title of Music Director (it's a complicated story), prior to my association with the New York Philharmonic. Bakala was a Janacek acolyte who conducted one of the first performances of the Mass in the late-1920s and was the organ soloist in many others. Anyway, my remark that LB's version was "forgettable" seems harsh now that I've gone back to it. Rather, it was forgotten. It remains a bit of a mess (no pun intended), with some very awkward balances. But LB's enthusiasm infects every measure. The big organ solo, however, is here lacking its inherent crazy melodrama. Anyway, I enjoyed the performance as a whole and relived some happy memories of my youth in New York and the beginnings of my professional career. Thanks, GJB.

You are very welcome.

Thanks for sharing!

Good luck on the exam!

@@DavesClassicalGuide thank you!

Thank you! I have the DVD and we reviewed it at ClassicsToday,com, Great fun!

Gee, I don't. There's no evidence that the Mass was corrected "against his will," and uglier, noisier, rougher, or more impractical does not equal "better," even with Janacek.

Nice try, but no. Janacek's final thoughts make more sense. Having two instrumental movements right at the start is pointless.

Boulez did record the Glagolitic Mass with the Chicago SO. If it’s still available, it’s on a 2CD set “A Tribute to Pierre Boulez” from the orchestra itself. He conducts the “original” version and it is beautifully played and sung, but more like Debussy meets Janacek. Well worth a listen if you can get it.

@@johnwright7749 yes, I am aware of that recording. That recording is from an earlier set of performances than the one I attended in 2010.

I wouldn't call Ancerl more exciting--perhaps grander in spots--but Kubelik is consistently quicker and more energetic. Ancerl has that amazing Czech choir and the Philharmonic. I wouldn't want to be without either of them.

It was on Sony, with the LSO.

I'll bet!

You saw Wit's Turangalîla? I'm jealous! Judging by the recording, that must have been a fabulous experience live :)

Gielen is very fine too for sure!

@@ftumschk it was awesome! I still remember the power of the climaxes. And his Mahler is also very good - I heard him in 2nd and 3rd.

@@DavesClassicalGuide it's a pity that he didn't record Sinfonietta. I'm curious about your favourite recording of this piece. Are you planing to make a video about it?

@@oskarapeta2895 Of course!

No, there aren't enough recordings in my opinion, and Mackerras is a top choice for most of them.

There are regional accents there, just like anywhere else, so no single correct way. I've been through it over and over.

Your walk leader was right. The emphasis is on the second syllable, but it's also possible that she was overdoing it on purpose to really send the point across. You are only supposed to prolong the "ah" slightly without making the syllable sound any louder. That is the single proper way. I can't account for all the regional accents out there, but it wouldn't be technically correct even if one did change this specific aspect of pronunciation. A simple rule to remember is that when instead of a, e, i, o, or u, you see á, é, í, ó, or ú/ů respectively, you are supposed to prolong that specific letter in the syllable, e.g., Dvo-řák (prolong 'a' in the second syllable), Mar-ti-nů (prolong 'u' in the third syllable), Suk (no prolongation).

@@davidhofman8956 Thanks for the clarification. The trip was over ten years ago, so I can't remember exactly how she said it. If she lengthened the vowel, as you said, it might have had the effect of making the second syllable more prominent; maybe that's what I heard. All I know is it was not the same "YAHN-ah-check" pronunciation we're used to over here. Wondering if we're saying other Czech names wrong, I looked up "Smetana" and saw that the sound sample came up "smeh-TAHN-ah." Does that sound right to you?

​@@isaacsegal2844 Sorry for the late reply. I somehow missed the notification. "Smeh-TAHN-ah" sounds right to me, though in the Czech language, all the syllables in his name sound about equally emphasized. As for some other Czech composers, I've noticed that people pronounce the "t" in "Martinů" the same way as in two; in Czech, it is supposed to sound the same as in "Tuesday". Then there is Dvořák. Since there is no English equivalent of "ř", I don't know how to put into words how exactly we pronounce his name, though what I usually hear people say in English is a good enough approximation.

And it's horrible.

@@DavesClassicalGuide Each to his own I guess.

@@apolloskyfacer5842 You said it, but I would suggest that you listen to some of the others I discuss, assuming you care enough about the work (I understand that you may not feel the need)!

@@DavesClassicalGuide No doubt you're correct about there being better recordings of this amazing work. But I've got a 'simple ear' as it were for this kind of music. Simon Rattle's presentation of it make this work more accessible to someone like me. I've listened to several of the Eastern European performances, and to my 'ear' they come across as 'abrupt and noisy', even though they're no doubt more authentic. To get an idea as to where I'm 'coming from'. Listen to George Lloyd's Symphonic Mass on the Albany Label(Troy 100)

@@apolloskyfacer5842 I knew Lloyd and enjoy that work very much, but as i said, it's your call. You know what you like.

That's fine, but you should hear the others mentioned if you haven't already.