MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

 

Leoš JANÁČEK (1854–1928)
Orchestral Suites from the Operas - Vol. 1
Jenůfa – Suite* (arr. Peter Breiner) [31:06]
The Excursions of Mr Brouček –Suite (1918) (arr. Peter Breiner) [39:01]
Vesa-Matti Leppanen (violin)*

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Peter Breiner
rec. Wellington Town Hall, New Zealand, 28 May-1 June 2007
NAXOS 8.570555 [70:20]

Experience Classicsonline


Janáček’s operas have become recognised as some of the finest of the 20th century, and his reputation is more often than not enhanced by each new production that hits the boards or the recorded catalogue. We’ve recently been treated to a fine recording of The Excursions of Mr Brouček, and my reference for Jenůfa is the venerable 1977-78 Supraphon recording with the Brno Janáček Opera forces under František Jílek.

The best known of Janáček’s ‘suites from the opera’ would have to be that of the Cunning Little Vixen, which, as well as From the House of the Dead was also arranged into a suite by František Jílek, but has appeared most frequently in a re-orchestration by Vacláv Talich. Significantly in this context, Sir Charles Mackerras returned to the original for his own recording, and in the same way Peter Breiner’s impressive arrangements also have to stand up against Janáček’s own orchestral sound.

Without a comparison of the scores it’s not a straightforward business, untangling differences between originals and arrangements in detail, and I don’t propose to make the attempt here. It may partially be due to differences in modern recording, ideal concert hall conditions rather than the ‘Opera house’ situation, or at the very least a recording set up which no longer has to take a variety of singers into consideration, but these suites sound more sumptuous and grand than anything I’ve heard from these pieces in the past. Janáček’s own orchestral palette in both of these operas is rich and full of fascinating colour and variety, and Breiner takes all of this on board. Take something like Are you feeling sad, Jenůfa however, and there is none of the restless urgency of that opening as you hear it from Jílek. Much as I admire the playing and sound, this is a rather well-fed Jenůfa, and there are few places here where the tragic drama of the opera isn’t covered with some kind of glitzy, sometimes almost Hollywood gloss.

The same comments apply to Brouček. You only have to compare the magical twists, turns and quicksilver contrasts of the opening under the baton of Jiří Bělohlávek with the rather more thick and ponderous tread of the same passages with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Agreed, we’re not entirely comparing like with like, and as concert suites rather than accompaniments to stage drama these arrangements work very well indeed. I like the creative and convincing way Breiner has brought sometimes disparate material together to create new movements. These arrangements and performances do however paint a rather different picture of Janáček’s operas than the one you might hope to hear in an opera production.

Some collectors of recorded music may not have much time for warbling opera singers on CD, and will be missing some wonderful music as a result. Suites like these can release fine compositional work from their dramatic context and win new audiences as a result. For this I applaud Peter Breiner for his work on these two operas, and will certainly be on the lookout for subsequent volumes. For me, the big-boned symphonic approach does remove some of the intimacy and excitement of Janáček’s works as original operas, and I think I would have preferred a little more lightness of touch and swiftness of pacing to help bring this feeling back. This said, these are fine performances and stunningly dynamic recordings, with some fine low drum rumbles and plenty of sparkle and colour in the spectrum. If you know and love the operas already this disc probably won’t further enhance your appreciation, but if you want some refreshingly new orchestral music and an alternative view on Janáček then this is a very strong contender indeed.

Dominy Clements


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.