Last June I went to Amsterdam to the great, lively Holland Festival and heard Janacek's From the House of the Dead conducted by Pierre Boulez, directed by Patrice Chéreau. It was fantastic, brilliant, vibrant orchestrally, making Janacek vivid and intense. You can scroll down to see what I wrote then (under tabs for Janacek). Now, you can watch the DVD which has extras, which are just as good. Here's a review of the new DVD ! Recordings are few - Mackerras and Jilek (good) but none come even close to this.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2008/Apr08/Janacek_DG%20004400734426.htm
I'm very eager to see this Janacek DVD. However, I don't believe that the late Czech conductor Frantisek Jilek recorded this opera. The Supraphon recordings are by the late Vaclav Neumann and Bohumil Gregor, I they're probably not available currently.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the Met's future production with Salonen making his conducting debut there.
You're right, the recording is Neumann. It's a typo because I was in a rush to get the actual review up, which is more important. Jilek does come into it bigtime though, as he was so closely connected and editted the MSS. He also wrote the suite. And of cours4e conducted the opera - recordings are only the tip of the iceberg of what happens in the real world. I was actually at the performance in Amsterdam. It was amazing, completely different and electric.
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