Janácek: Sinfonietta / Taras Bulba / Lachian Dances / Suite / Mládi / Capriccio / Concertino

Charles Mackerras is the outstanding Janácek conductor of our era. He recorded the composer's largest orchestral work (indeed, with 16 trumpets, one of anyone's largest orchestral works), the Sinfonietta, some 40 years ago, but this newer digital production, featuring the incomparable Vienna Philharmonic and Mackerras's own research into the original text of the score, is about as powerful and imposing as music gets. The recording is truly spectacular: the deep tones of the organ and brazen clangor of deep bells in Taras Bulba have never been more impressively captured, while the charming Lachian Dances make an appealing filler for the first disc. On disc 2, a selection of the composer's quirkily charming chamber music rounds out an essential collection for anyone interested in this endlessly fascinating composer. --David Hurwitz