Jenufa Archive
JANÁCEK: Orchestral Suites – Prague Radio Sym. Orch. / Tomas Netopil – Supraphon
JANÁCEK: Orchestral Suites – Prague Radio Sym. Orch. / Tomas Netopil – Supraphon SU4194-2, 52:00 (10/14/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ***: Janácek’s opera melodies reborn as orchestral suites. We know the music of Janácek best perhaps for his Sinfonietta. But the talented Czech composer was most often writing operas, and in truth, he didn’t leave us a great deal of straight orchestral music. This album from Supraphon and imported by Naxos remedies that, by offering three orchestral suites that were assembled from music the composer wrote for his large scale operas. The suites are from Jenufa, Kata Kabanova and Fate. Jenufa was the first opera to be set to a prose text. The globally celebrated piece reflected the sorrow Janácek felt after the death of his two beloved children and gave rise to a deep personal crisis. Katya Kabanova is one of the greatest Janácek works and one of the most beautiful lyric operas of the twentieth century and beyond. Fate was written in 1905, and wasn’t staged until 30 years after Janácek’s death. The adaptation heard here is by Frantisek Jilek, a fine Czech composer in his own right. Jenufa was adapted by Manfred Honeck, while Kata Kabanova was brought […]
DVORAK: Symphony No. 8 in G; JANACEK: Sym. Suite from Jenufa – Pittsburgh Sym. Orch./ Manfred Honeck – Fresh/ Reference Recordings
Interpretatively and sonically, this is one of the best releases of the Dvorak 8th I have ever heard.
JANACEK: Suites – Jenufa and The Excursions of Mr. Broucek – Vesa-Matti Leppanen, v./New Zealand Sym. Orch./Peter Breier – Naxos
Orchestral arrangements of early Janacek operas demonstrate his skill at writing tuneful and dramatic music.