Leos Janácek, almost seventy years old, characterised the wind sextet he had just finished as “a kind of memory of youth” in a letter to Kamila Stösslová. The suite “Youth” was written in the summer of 1924, prompted by the composer’s need to take stock on the occasion of his 70 th birthday. Janácek also heard the Parisian ensemble “Société moderne des instruments à vent” several times in Salzburg and Brno. He expanded the classic quintet scoring by the addition of a bass clarinet.

Janácek referred to an earlier part of his life in this work not only by quoting a theme from “March of the Blue Boys”, but particularly through his general freshness of expression, astute humour and use of form which adhered to the classical style.

The piece was enthusiastically received by both critics and the public and appeared in print as early as 1925 issued by the Prague publisher Hudební matice.

- Wind sextet in the classical style

- Urtext based on the “Critical Complete Edition of the Works of Leos Janácek”

- New foreword by Jirí Zahrádka (Cz/Eng/Ger)

CONTENTS

Allegro

Andante sostenuto

Vivace

Allegro animato