Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen

Leos Janacek (Composer), Simon Rattle (Conductor), Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra (Orchestra), Adrian Lloyd (Performer), Alexander Rattle (Performer), Anna Lorimar (Performer), Christopher Barnett (Performer), Devin Gregory (Performer), Diana Montague (Performer), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Performer), Emily Baum (Performer), Emma Connolly (Performer), Fiona Dobie (Performer), Gillian Knight (Performer), Gillian Ramsden (Performer), Giselle Unsworth (Performer), Glenys Groves (Performer), Gwynne Howell (Performer), John Dobson (Performer), Karen Shelby (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Adrian Lloyd, Alexander Rattle, Anna Lorimar, Christopher Barnett, Devin Gregory, et al.
• Orchestra: Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
• Conductor: Simon Rattle
• Composer: Leos Janacek
• Audio CD (October 21, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B0000C83YR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,266 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #55 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > Czech

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Splendid Remastering of the 1991 EMI Session, March 23, 2004

By 

Birdman (Minnetonka, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen (Audio CD)

This underrated modern opera, this time in English and conducted by Simon Rattle, is one most opera-lovers should own. I found this English performance warmly dramatic and listenable. Rattle's reading is more romantic and well-rounded than the Decca classic. Should the translation dissuade the buyer? Not at all. Some of the translated expressions are Brit expressions, but they work beautifully. When in doubt, just but the Mackerras version too.

The remastering here has opened up the acoustic of the original recording so the performance sounds as though it might have happened yesterday. The orchestra is alert and playful. The singers cannot be bettered. Lilian Watson is a superb, characterful Vixen Sharp-Ears, Diana Montague is a Fox to die for and Thomas Allen is -- well -- Thomas Allen. Did the man ever cut a bad record?

At roughly 100 minutes, and in a superbly packaged set with an all-new booklet with helpful notes and libretto, what are you waiting for?

I place this recording among my top 25 opera recordings in any language. And that's scary. Five stars, without remorse.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May be english, but it is excellent, February 28, 2005

By 

Ted Zoldan (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen (Audio CD)

There is nothing like the Cunning Little Vixen. It's a masterpiece, and it's not even Janacek's best Opera! This recording, sung in english, serves the work well.

The orchestra and chorus are very well lead by Rattle. The vixen's dream in the first act is beautifully played. The translation is easy on the ears, fits the music well, and all the singers have excellent diction. Lillian Watson's Vixen is well sung, a nice lyric voice that suits the part very nicely. "Can it be that I am beautiful?" is heart-stoppingly beautiful. Sir Thomas Allen is his usual peerless self. As far as I'm conserned, he is the Forester. His wonderful song in the Tavern is so incredably well sung it should be entered into the hall of fame. Diana Montague is an excellent fox, and Gwynne Howell and Robert Tear are touching and wonderfull as the priest and the Schoolmaster. Howell also is a properly Pompus badger, and Tear is a humoros Mosquito. Nicholas Fowell is a creepy Harasta and Karen Shelby makes a nice Dog. 5/5

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great performance of a Great Opera, June 14, 2011

By 

Patrick Crosby (San Clemente, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen (Audio CD)

The only qualifier here is that it is sung in English rather than the original Czech. Since Janacek's melodic line was closely related to the Czech language, this makes the English a bit strained. But that's the way it is with virtually all opera recordings-- you always wish there was just one little thing that was different. Personally the language thing doesn't bother me at all, but if you are hoping to be able to easily hear the actual words being sung, you might be disappointed. Not because anybody here "failed" in any sense of the term, but because that just isn't possible. But then again, that's why they give you a libretto booklet. And here, it is a pretty nice one.