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Janacek: Jenufa / Mackerras, Soderstrom, et al
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028941448323
Format: Original recording reissued
Label: Decca
Manufacturer: Decca
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Decca
Release Date: September 10, 2002
Studio: Decca
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Decline of Operatic Ceremony
Of all the operas I know, I like this one the least. Although it contains some excellent passages, it displays the chaos that results from trying to impose an ideal of empirical realism on an art that thrives on symbolic idealism. The real key to the power of opera lies in its old-world sense of the authority of symbols. An opera like Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Medee possesses a type of ceremonial dignity which faded steadily until it lay completely out of sight by Janacek's time. Wagner had done ... Read More
Rating:  - Great performance of Janacek's masterpiece
Jenufa is the most lyrical of all Janacek's opera's. It is also one of the most dramatic. Eva Randova's brilliant and affecting performance as Kostelnicka brings out the beauty of music and the tragedy of the role. Elizabeth Soderstrom's Jenufa is beautifully sung and well-acted. Her "Zdravas Kralovno (Ave Maria)" is a bright gem in a beautiful setting.
Personally, I think Mackerras' reading of the overture is as it should be: loud and full of brass, like Janacek's Sinfonietta.
Rating: - Only the best Jenufa by default
Mackerras, not an inspired conductor, has devoted himself to Janacek's operas and very honorably set them down in good Decca sound with accomplished casts. So far, so good. But if any of Janacek's stage works deserves a blazing interpretation, this is it. On a live concert recording under Eve Queller on Sony, the orchestra and sonics aren't nearly as good as here, but Leonie Rysanek gives an astounding performance as the grandother, and that's enough inmy mind to push that version past this very well ... Read More
Rating: - One of the best operas of the 20th century
This is really a brilliant opera. This is no belcanto, catchy-tunes, Verdi-style type of opera. It is a raw rural drama with sex, blood and deadly rage. There are several good things going for it:
(i) Although the story is hair-raising at times (infanticide), it is entirely credible (no babies mistakenly thrown in the fire here, unlike in Verdi's Il Trovattore) - this opera's libretto was not ordered to be written from scratch, it was first a stage play before becoming a libretto. For that reason, ... Read More
Rating: - One of the best
Knowing this recording and reliving it in the theater (if it is a good performence) is one of those experiences one doesn't forget easily. Like Puccini, Janacek appeals to our hearts. The two principle women deserve all the credit. Söderstöm sounds very much as the young peasant girl deserted by her lover. Listening to Randova one hears that she is a great singing actress. The supporting roles are very well cast and one couldn't ask for a more dedicated chorus and orchestra under the baton of Mackerras. ... Read More
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