BaL 31.10.20 - Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen

[Pulcinella]

Agreed.

I didn't think I would be, but now I'm certainly tempted to add the Rattle to the Mackerras, that I already have, simply because it's such a wonderful work.

I have the Mackerras on CD, but have already streamed the new Rattle twice.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Have to say , despite the caveats , I found the English on the Rattle perfectly intelligible but it was only one extract..

[mikealdren]

Yes as good a review as it gets, helped by a small number of available recordings, not too many interruptions from AMcG and a real expert reviewer, many thanks Nigel.
The only downside, it'll cost me for the new Rattle recording!

[makropulos]

Yes as good a review as it gets, helped by a small number of available recordings, not too many interruptions from AMcG and a real expert reviewer, many thanks Nigel.
The only downside, it'll cost me for the new Rattle recording!

Thanks Mike! So glad you enjoyed it, and sorry to land you with some spending, but the new Rattle is very reasonably priced and comes with all the right bits and bobs (libretto etc) in a nice slim box...

[makropulos]

Agreed.

I didn't think I would be, but now I'm certainly tempted to add the Rattle to the Mackerras, that I already have, simply because it's such a wonderful work.

That's exactly what I thought when I was first sent the Rattle –I wasn't expecting it to be quite as lovely as it is. As you say, with Vixen it's such wonderful music that there's room for more than one version, especially when Rattle's spacious view is so different from CM's.

[makropulos]

A pretty impeccable BaL, albeit with a fairly predictable conclusion, by our very own Makropulos!

Thank you! The next BAL I'm doing (probably at the end of January) will be a bit less predictable (and not Janacek).

[DracoM]

PS How on earth ANY reviewer puts up with AMcGod I do not know.
VERY fine job done this a.m. in v.tricky decisions on CLV. however - IMO, despite rather than because of........

[Pulcinella]

I have the Mackerras on CD, but have already streamed the new Rattle twice.

PS: The Sinfonietta filler is pretty good too.

[makropulos]

PS: The Sinfonietta filler is pretty good too.

Interesting you say that. I was oddly unconvinced by that Sinfonietta, in spite of excellent playing: I missed the kind of grit Ancerl, Kubelik and Mackerras all bring to it. For me, it never quite caught fire. But obviously it's done it for you, so I'll try again.

[Pulcinella]

Interesting you say that. I was oddly unconvinced by that Sinfonietta, in spite of excellent playing: I missed the kind of grit Ancerl, Kubelik and Mackerras all bring to it. For me, it never quite caught fire. But obviously it's done it for you, so I'll try again.

I think that you are right, and I perhaps should have said something more like 'You get a decent filler, too', meaning 'You don't just get the opera'!

Can you tell us something about Talich's involvement in the opera/score/orchestration?
I'm sure I read that he tinkered with it.
Even his arrangement of the suite seems to have been revised (by Smetacek; it's the filler to the Mackerras Decca recording), and the version of the suite in the Mackerras Life with Czech Music box says Arranged Talich, revised Mackerras.

[kernelbogey]

As one not as exercised over 'twofer' BALs as some others on these boards, I found the format today quite acceptable. (Caveat: I heard only the last third of the review.) In general, I too would prefer the 'old-style' single presenter format. What grates is that it is clearly +/- scripted, and sounds false. What I heard this morning flowed nicely, in particular Nigel's 'responses' to Andrew's interjections .)

Less so, when Anna Lapwood, an organist, was reviewing the new Bach organ set. I have found her on other occasions a wonderful broadcaster and she was interrupted rather too much: so I switched off (though to be fair, I am also no great fan of organ music, although I have tried).

[makropulos]

I think that you are right, and I perhaps should have said something more like 'You get a decent filler, too', meaning 'You don't just get the opera'!

Can you tell us something about Talich's involvement in the opera/score/orchestration?
I'm sure I read that he tinkered with it.
Even his arrangement of the suite seems to have been revised (by Smetacek; it's the filler to the Mackerras Decca recording), and the version of the suite in the Mackerras Life with Czech Music box says Arranged Talich, revised Mackerras.

It's a fascinating can of worms –and I'm glad we didn't have to get into this morning (see next para). Anyhow, you're quite right: Talich had two Prague musicians (František Škvor and Jaroslav Řídký) reorchestrate the whole opera for the 1937 production at the Prague National Theatre (S. for Act 1, R for Acts 2 and 3). That instrumentation was used for Talich's 'Suite', (actually just Škvor as all the music is from Act 1). And that's what turns up as a filler on the Mackerras recording. I can't tell you what Smetáček's involvement was, but I suspect it was largely a tidying up exercise. You'll have heard how far-reaching the reorchestration was from the Talich suite.

However, nobody ever made a commercial recording using the Talich reorchestration of the complete opera, so –unlike some of the other operas –the orchestration for all of them is Janáček's own. Given how effective that is, it's a real surprise that Talich felt the need to commission the rescoring. He's a conductor I revere, and it seems an odd lapse of taste and common-sense from such a great musician. Neumann in the 1950s used the real scoring for Felsenstein in Berlin and for the first Supraphon recording, and Talich's Vixen never seems to have been used except at the Prague NT – and then only for a few years. One other little addition: there's a radio recording of Vixen conducted by Břetislav Bakala from the early 1950s (in murky sound) which surfaced on a pair of Panton LPs (and which can be got now as a download from CRQ). That also uses the original orch. although with a few alterations, most conspicuously putting some of the high timpani notes down an octave –a shame, but it's interesting to hear Bakala conduct the piece. (It's even more interesting to hear his radio recording of Katya Kabanova in the same CRQ set –that's a stunning performance).

By the way, Talich's rescoring of Katya Kabanova (actually done by Talich himself) was another odd decision, and that was used for the opera's first Supraphon recording –the terrific performance conducted by Krombholc, marred by Talich's extremely interventionist changes: he actually alters and adds notes as well as changing some of the orchestration. I think Talich probably shared the view, prevalent in Prague, that Janáček didn't really know what he was doing and needed a helping hand –a bit like Rimsky's view of Mussorgsky. In other words, it was well-intentioned, even if we now think of it as misguided.

Having said all that, I'd love to have heard Talich conduct either of these operas!

Hope that helps a bit.

[Pulcinella]

....
Hope that helps a bit.

Indeed; thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Bryn]

Not for want of trying, Bryn –but by limiting it to CDs at least we were able to discuss pretty much all of them in the time available.

Since you are around, do you happen to have a personal favourite among the DVDs currently available, mainly regarding the musical contribution, that is? I would presume the Mackerras. I don't know the Dennis Russell Davies but it appears to have been well received by Amazon customers.

[Goon525]

Is it my imagination, or did Nigel just get through five informative and educational paragraphs without a single interruption by Andrew?