Search - Leos Janacek, Sylvain Cambreling, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Janacek: Kata Kabanova

Dreary to look at, ravishing to hear

Ed Beveridge | London, England | 11/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There is a lot of Kat'a Kabanova about - at least here in the UK. Two of our major companies gave simultaneous new productions this time last year, Two are giving the opera this year and it's coming back to Glyndebourne. Meanwhile, you can't move in the rest of the operatic world for performances of this masterpiece, and it's not hard to see why. A really satisfying piece for an orchestra to get its teeth into, dramatically compelling and with an absolute gift of a title role for a mettlesome lyric soprano, Kat'a has helped move Janacek right into the mainstream of current operatic repertoire as a towering twentiethy century master. And - a real plus for managements worried about overtime payments - it isn't very long. It can easily be performed without intervals and powerfully so, as the entire piece lasts 100 minutes in all.This particular recording is of live performances at the Salzburg Festival last year. I remember the scandal it caused as a "kitchen sink" production of a profoundly romantic work, and the production snapshots look pretty dreary, the costumes unflattering. However, the (scanty) accompanying booklet hymns the psychological insight and relevance of the production, and there aren't boos to be heard at the end of the show. Other than occasional stage noise and the peculiar addition of some slavic chorales before acts 2 and 3, this could be a highly polished studio performance. Cambreling's pacing of this work is terrific - expansive whenever we hear of the river and of love but razor sharp when the unpleasantness of the village - and especially of Kabanaicha - begin to bite. The orchestra mine the wealth of beauty in the score most notably at the close of Act 2, which is stunning.And the cast is admirably supported. I have alluded to the fact that the title role is a gift but this should not lead one to underestimate the power of Angela Denoke's performance in the title role. A shining, effortless voice, delicate and powerful by turns, she makes Kat'a a gently spiritual, deeply moving heroine. The odd slip of intonation here and there is insignificant. David Kuebler's diamond-bright tenor provides a counterfoil - this Boris is always going to run away, so wound up is he from the outset. He sings Janacek's punishing lines heroically. As evil stepmother Kabanaicha, Jane Henschel certainly doesn't lack vocal strength but the upper part of the voice can sound very wobbly indeed (not a problem at the opposite end of the staff). Rainer Trost and Dagmar Peckova are admirable as the young lovers, and as Tichon, Hubert Delamboye is as ineffectual as can be.Given that we're hardly spoiled for choice with Kat'a recordings, this budget option has a lot going for it. It makes a fascinating comparison with either Mackerras version, and Denoke is in a class of her own. Treat yourself."

Denoke in a class of her own, indeed...!

F. Wooley | san francisco, ca | 10/09/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"...or how curiosity killed this cat... I should have taken as a sign of things to come the fact that the praises of the Volga sang by Rainer Trost, whom previously I only knew for his intelligent and beautiful singing, are relentlessly shouted between forte and fortissimo: forget that it is the first singing you hear and a beautiful passage in other recordings; as for the heroine, to my dismay, she manages to ruin her pivotal duet with Varvara, distracting me with her tentative singing where others, sure of theirs , can take the opportunity to draw the heroin upon the beautiful music and words that Janacek provided. I found her quite unremarkable, unidiomatic, almost unmusical. I'd be hard pressed to find any reason why I should keep this recording. It is not even cheap. I'd pick Krombholc or Mackerras (his two recordings of the opera) anytime."