Po Zarolstlem Chodnicku (On an Overgrown Path)

By Leos Janacek

This is superb music and a delight to play on the piano. Hard to believe how seldom it is performed in concert or in broadcast. Four stars only because this edition is heavily edited and not always for the better. Some editor's markings are confusing and make it more...

difficult to interpret the composer's intentions. I would try the Baerenreiter edition instead.

The collection seems complete and, together with the CD I have of Janacek's "Po Zarolstlem Chodnicku" I am able to figure them out and play them. As far as their difficulty level, I checked "intermediate/advanced", which is where I think I am. I have been playing the piano...

seriously for about four years as an adult, after a 50-year hiatus.

This is really beautiful music, my piano teacher was not familiar with it and was highly impressed. The pieces aren't easy, but are achievable with some work; a good teaching tool, too, as the pedal use and the hand-over-hand work takes some thought. They're short enough...

to master, though, most only one page. I'm by no means an advanced player, but I'm working through No. 7, "Doubrou Noc! "Good Night!" now and previously worked on the extremely gorgeous (and more difficult) No. 4, "Frydecka Panna Maria," or "The Virgin of Frydek," made famous in the soundtrack of the movie "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." This edition is well-edited. I recommend that you try this; it's unusual music,Chopin-esqe, but not so familiar as to be boring. If you thought of Janacek as "difficult" contemporary, you'll find these far more accessible.