Janácek: Jenufa

Amazon.com editorial review: Aficionados will tell you that because of the musical, rhythmic, way he sets the language, Janácek's operas are most effective when they are sung in Czech. This performance, sung in English, therefore deserves extra praise. The end product is almost overwhelming in its potency and ability to move. Here the orchestra does a remarkable amount of expressing, from the chilling xylophone figures, which always foreshadow trouble for poor Jenufa and which can "feel" like the rattling of bones, to the tender accompaniment of Jenufa's prayer in Act II and the confused ruckus which occurs when the dead infant is discovered. Sir Charles Mackerras (whose previous recording of the opera, on Decca, is also magnificent) keeps the level of tension in this tale of misplaced anger, humiliation, infanticide and forgiveness almost uncomfortably high. The singers are superb: Janice Watson's Jenufa sounds correctly young and vulnerable, but her voice is substantial and quite beautiful in the gentler passages. As the Kostelnicka, perhaps the greatest character role for female voice in all of opera, soprano Josephine Barstow is towering--authoritative, filled with anguish, then paranoia, then guilt--and although they aren't pretty, her repeated high Bs in Act II are suitably hair-raising and solid. Peter Wedd's callow Steva is callous and specifically vivid and Nigel Robson, starting with little character as Laca, is warm and believable in the second act and reaches great heights by the final duet. The other cast members draw their characters with great individuality. The playing and singing of the WNO forces are nothing less than brilliant. This, even more so than Mackerras's other recording (in Czech), does this complex work justice. --Robert Levine

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