Opera, Janáček (composer)
-
Special offer. Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), Jan Martiník (Badger/Parson), Peter Hoare (Mosquito/Rooster/Schoolmaster), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Harašta)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
If this Vixen is good, the Sinfonietta is outstanding – arguably the best on disc, though you need to experience the work in a concert hall with the nine trumpets blazing. They’re supremely... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
-
Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
-
Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
-
The Times Records of the Year, 2020
-
Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
-
-
Special offer. Janáček: Katya Kabanova
RecommendedAmanda Majeski (Katya), Katarina Dalayman (Kabanicha), Simon O'Neill (Boris), Andrew Staples (Tichon), Magdalena Kozená (Varvara), Ladislav Elgr (Kudrjas), Pavlo Hunka (Dikój)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle and his recording engineers have produced a Katya that sound s magnificent both in its attention to musical detail and in those sudden orchestral climaxes that seem to sweep nature itself... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
-
Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
-
Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Shortlisted - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Opera
-
Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2024
-
-
Special offer. Janáček: Jenůfa
RecommendedAgneta Eichenholz (Jenůfa), Katarina Karnéus (Kostelnička), Aleš Briscein (Laca), Nicky Spence (Števa), Jan Martiník (Starek, the Foreman/Mayor), Carole Wilson (Grandmother Buryjovka)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
It’s the conflicted characters that we ‘hear’ in this Jenůfa: Laca who cuts the eponymous heroine’s face and the Deaconess Kostelnička who murders her stepdaughter’s illegitimate infant to protect... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd May 2025
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2026, Nominated - Opera
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
-
-
Special offer. Janáček: Káťa Kabanová
RecommendedCorinne Winters (Kát’a), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kabanicha), David Butt Philip (Boris), Jaroslav Březina (Tichon), Jarmila Balážová (Varvara), Benjamin Hulett (Váňa), Jens Larsen (Dikój)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Jakub Hrůša, Barrie Kosky
Winters is utterly remarkable throughout, words and gestures always telling...Despite Kosky’s occasional idiosyncrasies, this is musically overwhelming. You really do need to hear it. —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, October 2023, DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023, Shortlisted - DVD/Blu-ray of the Year
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Winner - Video Opera
-
Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2023
-
Gramophone Awards, 2024 Winners, Opera
-
-
Janacek - The Operas
RecommendedElisabeth Söderström (Jenufa), Eva Randova (Kostelnicka), Petr Dvorsky (Steva), Vaclav Zitek (Sterek), Marie Mrazova (Starenka), Dalibor Jedlicka (Rychtar), Wieslaw Ochman (Laca), Lucia Popp (Karolka), Lucia Popp (Vixen), Eva Randová (Fox), Dalibor Jedliaka (Forester), Dalibor Jedlicka (Gorjancikov),...
Charles Mackerras's partnership with soprano Söderström produced definitive and superbly recorded studio performances of Kát'a Kabanová, Jenůfa and The Makropulos Case. A must for Janáček fans. —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 1984, Winner - Opera
-
Gramophone Awards, 1982/3, Winner - Opera
-
Gramophone Awards, 1980, Recording of the Year
-
Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1980s
-
Gramophone Awards, 1977, Recording of the Year
-
Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Janáček: From the House of the Dead
RecommendedDalibor Jedlicka (Goryantchikov), Jiri Zahradnicek (Luka Morosoff), Jaroslava Janská (Alyeya), Václav Zitek (Shishkov), Antonin Svorc (Old Prisoner), Ivo Zidek (Skuratov)
Wiener Staatsopernchor & Wiener Philharmoniker, Charles Mackerras
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 1980, Recording of the Year
-
Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Special offer. Invocation
Elsa Dreisig (soprano), Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova Choir, Massimo Zanetti
Some of the lighter 'excerptable' numbers come off very well. Rusalka's Song to the Moon is floated well and Desdemona's Ave Maria is tender. French repertoire shows her voice off to best effect...Her... —
-
Special offer. Janacek: Katya Kabanova
Cheryl Barker (Katya), Jane Henschel (Kabanicha), Robert Brubaker (Boris Grigoryevich), Peter Hoare (Tichon Kabanov), Peter Wedd (Kudryash), Victoria Simmonds (Varvara), Kathleen Wilkinson (Glasha), Gwynne Howell (Dikoi); Welsh National Opera, Carlo Rizzi
…Rizzi illuminates… with almost Puccinian warmth, while keenly evoking the tightening tensions beneath. …Barker's… intense soprano, large for the role, makes Katya sound stronger than usual... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2008, Opera Finalist
-
Gramophone Awards, 2008, Finalist - Opera
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, Opera Choice
-
-
Janáček: From the House of the Dead
RecommendedJiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Zidek, Dalibor Jedlicka
Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras
From the House of the Dead (the 1980 Gramophone Record of the Year) was here recorded for the first time in its proper, original version; and this revealed it as even more of a masterpiece... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 1980, Record of the Year
-
Grammy Awards, 24th Awards (1981), Best Opera Recording
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Janáček: The Excursions of Mr Broucek
RecommendedPeter Straka, Jan Vacík, Zdenek Plech, Maria Haan, Roman Janál, Martina Bauerová, Ales Briscein, Jaroslav Brezina & Václav Sibera
BBC Singers & BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jirí Belohlávek
The instrumental playing here is magnificent and the BBC Singers negotiate their often stratospheric lines with raw passion and enviable confidence. But what makes the whole performance of... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2008, Winner - Opera
-
Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2008
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -