Zdenek Chrapek

This week we feature The Cunning Little Vixen conducted by Charles Mackerras and Rafael Kubelik leading From the House of the Dead.

Janácek’s operas are among the most humane and moving ever composed. It took them years to enter the repertoire of opera houses outside of the Czech Republic. We sometimes hear Jenufa but Kat’a Kabanova has been gaining in popularity over the past decade, often with American sopranos Amanda Majeski or Corinne Winters in the title role.

Mackerras did much to alert the world to these fine works with his much-heralded recordings and many live performances. Perhaps the orchestra of the English National Opera in today’s Vixen can’t always smoothly command the composer’s haunting writing, but Mackerras’s conviction sweeps everyone up convincingly.

Vixen in Maruice Sendak’s enchanting production showed up occasionally at New York City Opera where I saw it in 1998. Juilliard Opera then produced it locally in a 2013 production that featured a magical Julia Bullock in the title role.

Kubelik’s New York Philharmonic House of the Dead came a decade after the conductor’s brief, shining time as the Met’s Music Director during which he introduced Berlioz’s Les Troyens (another opera we NEED back at the Met) to the company. House eventually received its Met premiere in 2009 in Patrice Chéreau’s spellbinding production, but unfortunately it has not been revived.

Claus Guth’s Jenufa production which has already been produced at Covent Garden and Lyric Opera of Chicago is due at the Met in a future season; fingers crossed. In the meantime, Franz Welser-Möst is scheduled to conduct a suite of House music with the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on March 18th. Meanwhile, other podcast spotlights on Janácek include Gabriela Benackova’s US debut in the title role of Kat’a Kabanova and Karita Mattila’s thrilling Makropulos Case.

Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen (in English)

The Vixen: Lesley Garrett
The Fox: Christine Botes
The Forester’s Wife: Lyn Cook
The Innkeeper’s Wife: Jane Whitehead
The Chief Hen: Rachel Cowan
The Hens: Moira Clark, Jane Whitehead, Karen Harper, Eileen Shaw
The Forester: Norman Bailey
The Schoolmaster: Terry Jenkins
The Parson: Mark Richardson
The Poacher (Harašta): Nicholas Folwell
The Dog: Paul Napier-Burrows
The Cock: Deryck Huw Webb
The Badger: Michael Druiett
The Innkeeper: Paul Napier-Burrows
The Woodpecker: Anthony Rich
The Mosquito: Glyn Adams
The Owl: Judith Douglas
The Jay: Susan Burgess-James
Frantík: Gavin Burke
Pepík: Samuel Burkey
The Frog: Paolo Macis

Conductor: Charles Mackerras
English National Opera, London Coliseum
10 May 1991
In-house recording

Janácek: From the House of the Dead (in English)

Goriantchikov: John Cheek
Alieja: Philip Creech
Filka Morosov (Louka Kouzmitch): Richard Cassilly
Skuratov: Donald Grobe
Chichkov: Norman Mittelmann
Chapkine: Richard Brunner
Commandant: Andrew Foldi
Old prisoner: Steven Cole
Short prisoner: Harry Dworchak
Young prisoner: Grayson Hirst
Tall Prisoner: Jon Frederic West
Whore: Catherine Carter
Kadril: Ronald Formsoe
Cook: Joel Armstrong

Conductor: Rafael Kubelik
New York Philharmonic
24 March 1983
Broadcast

Vixen and House of the Dead can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.

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