That the Glagolitic Mass has a complex history is by now common knowledge. Not long ago a score of the so-called ‘original version’ emerged: interesting but not authentic, more a compendium of elements from various versions. The new edition from Bärenreiter Prague contains two printings of the piece, the last authorised version (the one that the composer prepared for print) and this so-called September 1927 alternative (the one used at the Brno premiere), which most accurately reflects the original, excluding later edits made during or following the preparations for the first performance. Cataloguing the differences between the two would be tedious, so suffice to say that the (true) original amounts at times to a quite different work, both more dramatic and more colourful than the familiar revision and where altered detail immediately arrests our attention, sometimes harmonic, at other times rhythmic or concerning the Mass’s actual notation. Tomáš Netopil’s performance seethes with nervous energy, his soloists are dedicated, and so are his chorus and orchestra.

The Eternal Gospel (1914) first saw the light of day in part because of the success achieved by Janáček’s opera Jenůfa. In general more stylistically conventional than the much later Mass (it’s all but a mini-oratorio), The Eternal Gospel hasn’t been recorded in aeons. Based on a poem by Jaroslav Vrchlický, the text’s theme is one of universal love. Some of Janáček’s closest associates believed that the war in the Balkans may have proved an inspiration, principally because of his pacifist attitudes. The opening Con moto immediately ushers in among strange spectres, at times glancing sideways at Sibelius, the ensuing movements alternating mystery and drama. Again, the performance is excellent.