It’s difficult to know quite who this disc is aimed at. Peter
Breiner has taken some highlights from these operas and arranged
them to work as orchestral concert suites, somewhat like Stokowski’s
treatment of Wagner. It’s a laudable endeavour and the result
is pleasing and never less than interesting. Who’s it meant to
appeal to, however? Surely anyone interested in this music will
already know the operas in their original form where there are
no cuts to intervene and frustrate the progress. I very much
doubt that anyone would come to this disc as a way into Janáček’s work: better, surely, to take the plunge and go
for the real McCoy.
Anyway, the results are pleasing and very well played. In Jenůfa Breiner sticks broadly
to Janáček’s
orchestral textures with the occasional embellishment, such
as a solo trumpet to sing Jenůfa’s
lines or a cor anglais for the Kostelnička’s. The opening movement goes from
the beginning of the opera with its ostinato xylophone for the
mill wheel. Oddly, though, we get the opening of Act 3 in the
third movement before it suddenly reverts back to the opening
of Act 2. The booklet notes argue for this “cinematic” treatment
of the score, but if you know the opera then it just sounds
a bit odd. Moving from this tension into the wedding celebrations
then feels a bit jarring. The playing itself is very good,
but the orchestra isn’t helped by somewhat recessed recorded
sound; this in turn detracts from the immediacy of the dance
movements, and the swell of the ending lacks the final dramatic
edge.
I enjoyed Brouček more as a distinct work, perhaps
because I don’t know the opera. It opens with a jovial depiction
of Prague and of Brouček himself, before much more delicate
orchestration underlines the change of location to the Moon
in the second movement. The atmosphere of the spectral strings
and glockenspiel (or is it a celesta?) contrasts with the lovely
romantic swell which occurs at 5:45, and I was reminded a little
of middle-period Mahler. The third movement dances are all
good fun, by turns lithe and swaggering, though the patriotic
celebrations of the finale feel pedestrian rather than triumphal.
So if you already like Janáček’s operas then this would be a fitting enough supplement
to recordings you may already have. But would I recommend that
you invest in this disc before a full set of the operas themselves?
No: roll up your sleeves and get stuck into the real thing instead.
Simon Thompson
see also Review
by Dominy Clements
