15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best, February 10, 2004
This review is from: Janacek: Jenufa (Audio CD)
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. This one is hard to beat.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great performance of Janacek's masterpiece, December 9, 2005
This review is from: Janacek: Jenufa (Audio CD)
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.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best operas of the 20th century, September 17, 2004
This review is from: Janacek: Jenufa (Audio CD)
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, it had to have a convincing internal logic to succeed first as a play.
(ii) Janacek's music adds greatly to the story. The scene, in the third act, where the crime of infanticide is uncovered will send shivers down your spine.
(iii) Janacek is very good in using folk music motives. The opera is set in Moravian countryside and the music shows it. Apparently, he could come up with such convincing folk-sounding tunes that many experts thought them to be genuine folk songs, only arranged for opera.
(iv) The singing is good on this recoding. All the singers try hard to convey the emotion of their piece: they had to be very well acquaninted with the text - which is in Czech, an obscure language for many of the performers.
(v) The accompanying booklet does a great job explaining the background of the opera. And explaining you will need - for understanding the personal interrelationships alone.
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