Leos Janácek: Káta Kabanová [Import]

Leos Janácek (Artist), Sir Charles Mackerras (Artist), Gabriela Benacková (Artist), Peter Straka (Artist), Eva Randová (Artist), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 1, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Supraphon
• ASIN: B00000DFP8
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,820 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #72 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > Czech

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Introduction

2. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Zázrak! Vskutku treba ríci, ze zázrak. Glaso!'

3. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Darmochlebe! Prisel jsi sem lelky chytat?'

4. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Copak s ním máte za jednáni?'

5. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Chces-li matky poslechnout'

6. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, Intermezzo

7. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Vís, co mi napadlo?'

8. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 1, 'Ale nac tobe to vykládam? Jsi dívka!'

Disc: 2

1. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Vida, chvástala jsi se'

2. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Pujdu téz se projít!'

3. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, Vida! Nestestí'

4. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Nic zvlástního, jenom jsem trochu nachmelen...'

5. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, Intermezzo

6. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Nikoho tu není!'

7. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Za vodou, za vodickou muj Vána stojí'

8. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Jste to vy, Katerino Petrovno?'

9. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'To jste si vymysleli peknou vec!'

10. Káta Kabanová, opera, JW 1/8: Act 2, 'Vsecko domu, domu, vsecko domu, domu'

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The unbearable lightness of ineffable bittersweetness.", April 27, 2002

By 

Bob Zeidler (Charlton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leos Janácek: Káta Kabanová (Audio CD)

Leos Janacek had an umatched ability for expressing bittersweet sadness in musical terms. It is no wonder, then, that his instrumental music (mostly, his chamber music) was used exclusively for that splendid cinematic version of Milon Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" of more than a decade ago. Kundera's narrative was of a quality such that, had Janacek still been alive at its writing, he would have given it more than passing notice for its libretto possibilities.

Kát'a Kabanová, one of Janacek's final - and finest - staged works, is based on a 19th century Russian play, "The Storm," by Alexander Ostrovsky. Masterfully compacting Ostrovsky's five-act drama into three acts lasting barely 90 minutes, Janacek perfectly captured the fate of Kát'a, a young woman who loved fully but not wisely. An innocent naif in a marriage of unrequited love to a boorish husband (Tikhon) whose mother (Kabanikha) totally dominates him - and everyone else with whom she comes in contact - Kát'a turns to Boris, the nephew of Kabanikha's sado-masochistic partner, Dikoi, for the hope of "love returned." But this is not meant to be; Boris turns out to be a spineless weakling, and fails to rescue Kát'a from her dilemma of "love confounded and unrealized by moral strictures." Kát'a ultimately turns to the only release she can find, throwing herself into the Volga River following her ultimate aria, "But death does not come..."

If this libretto synopsis comes across as all too grim, permit me to say that it is a common-enough theme in dramatic-opera libretti. And it is "rescued" - if in fact it needed rescuing - by some of Janacek's most glorious music. I can't speak for Janacek in terms of which of his mature staged works was his favorite (mine was - and continues to be - "The Cunning Little Vixen"), but it is clear that he poured his "musical heart" into this work. Every note, every strophe, every harmony, every choice of instrumentation serves the dramatic and emotional action to perfection. By the final curtain, one is both in awe of Janacek's compositional prowess and left totally limp by his realization of this moral fable expressed in dramatic and musical terms.

As Kát'a, Gabriela Benackova would seem to be hard-pressed to be bettered; she has Janacek's music (and musical vocabularly) in her blood. (More than two decades earlier, Mackerras had recorded this work with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with the great Elisabeth Sodertrom as Kát'a, but I'm not personally familiar with that performance, and, in any event, would find it hard to believe that Soderstrom's could have been superior to Benackova's performance here.) All of the other principals seem fine, too. And the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra could hardly be improved upon when in such repertoire, particularly under the baton of Mackerras, an "honorary Czech" who studied with the great Vaclav Talich.

The recorded sound is superb as well, and the production is lavishly packaged, with separate booklets containing the cast listing and plot synopsis and the libretto. The former has an interesting essay by David Hurwitz (a frequent Amazon editorial reviewer) which puts the historical placement of Kát'a Kabanová in perspective (including the fact that it was contemporaneous with Janacek's "Sinfonietta," one of his most famous orchestral works [a coincidence that is clear from listening to the opera]). Regrettably, that essay is somewhat diminshed by the presence of a rather large number of typographical errors that should have been caught by Mr. Hurwitz.

But this is a truly minor point; the main point is that this recording is a "must have" for anyone who is a lover of Janacek's music, or of 20th-century opera, of of opera of any time whatsoever. Unbearably beautiful!

Bob Zeidler

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent presentation, April 24, 2005

By 

Strat Man (Shelton CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leos Janácek: Káta Kabanová (Audio CD)

I really didn't know what to expect in an opera from Janacek. His representation of "The Storm" is poignant without the least hint of overdramatization, and the music is beautiful throughout.

The way each character seems to carry his or her own "theme" around at all times is quite impressive.

I enjoyed all of the vocal performances, and found the orchestral performance flawless. The recording is excellent, and the booklets that accompany the CD are quite thorough.

What's not to like?

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect, But, October 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Leos Janácek: Káta Kabanová (Audio CD)

The previous review is absolutely right in every detail, with one crucial expection. To my ears, Banackova's voice grows hard and unpleasant when she pushes it above the staff. It's a beautifully nuanced performance, intelligently sung and very well acted. But the voice tends to "hoot" under pressure, and it's enough to distract from the overall effect. In all other respects, this is an exceptional performance. But the recently released performance with Soderstrom singing Katya might make a better first choice for this opera.