parterre box

At first glance, Ivor Bolton, Chief Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, would seem an odd choice to lead Jenufa, Janacek’s grim tale of infanticide and oppressive village morality.  Remember the actor Tony Azito?  Bolton’s conducting persona reminds me of Azito’s amazingly flexible movement skills.  Bolton, he of the stiff trunk, sweetly doughy face, and arms and hands expressively rubbery, brings a marvelous ability to find the exquisite, emotional beauty in Janacek’s verismo score.

More than anything on this interesting DVD, I will remember the heart-wrenching violins.  From the tremolos that begin Act II to the fragile solo that emerges from the sturm und drang of Kostelnicka’s exit to murder the baby, Bolton uses these moments of surpassing delicacy and beauty to a deeply touching effect.  Perhaps it is actually due to his Mozart and baroque mainstays that he is able to find so much depth, variety, and moments of revelatory surprise in this rich music. Read more »

Rusalka and her sisters are huddled in the flooded basement. They are dressed up in sparkly gowns and heavily made up, and of varying ages. Dvorak’s folk-tinged chorus for the water-maidens becomes their chorus of fear, as the father (Water Goblin) enters the basement, and the girls tremble nervously at who he will “pick.” Only Rusalka does not move. She lies motionless on the couch, as longtime victims of abuse will sometimes do, already anticipating the worst. Read more »

Janácek’s Makropulos Case has only chalked up thirteen performances in three previous runs at the Met and will have just five more this season. Try to catch at least one. Emilia Marty, the glamorous diva even more ageless and immortal than most divas, is a role Karita Mattila has finally and happily taken on after long experience of the same composer’s moving, far less mercurial Jenúfa and Ká?a Kabanová.   Read more »