A New Recording of Janáček’s “Vixen” Opera

courtesy of Naxos of America

I should probably count myself fortunate to have seen two productions of Leoš Janáček’s three-act opera The Cunning Little Vixen (“Příhody lišky Bystroušky” in the original Czech), once with the New York City Opera, not long after my move from Santa Barbara to Connecticut in 1981, and once with the San Francisco Opera during the 2004 spring season. (I also had an opportunity to write for Examiner.com about the Glyndebourne video of a performance in June of 2012.) In spite of such sparse experiences (not to mention the problem of getting my ears around the Czech language), I have become very sentimental about this opera, perhaps because it is not so much a staged narrative as a penetrating examination of the role of humanity in the natural world, a role that few humans consider, let alone actually “get.”

This Friday OehmsClassics will release a new recording of this opera based on recordings made of performances at the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt that took place in April and May of 2016. The cover is a bit deceptive, since the title of the opera is in German (Das schlaue Füchslein); but the singing is still in mind-bending Czech. Johannes Debus conducts a cast of vocalists whose names will probably be unfamiliar to most readers, along with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester and both chorus and children’s chorus. Each of the three acts is only about half an hour in duration, and the entire package consists of two CDs. As usual, this new release may be preordered from an Amazon.com Web page.

While all of the resources are unfamiliar, I found the recording highly satisfying. To the extent that I can grasp Czech at all, I was impressed by how attentive both performers and recording team were to capturing diction. There is no libretto to follow; but those who know the episodic nature of the scenario will appreciate the “tone” of each of the scenes, even in the absence of linguistic detail. That “tone” emerges not only from the vocal work (with some of the children’s voices having particularly penetrating impact) but also from the balance with the instrumental side, which often assumes its own take on the unfolding of the narrative.

There are not many recordings of this opera. For the most part, those recordings involve conductors with much more familiar names. Nevertheless, Debus conducts in a manner that consistently honors the flow of the plot; and he does so with an appreciation that the whole is more important than any of the individual contributors. This recording can be a valuable resource for those planning to see this opera staged, but Debus’ interpretation allows one to enjoy the many virtues of Janáček’s score in their own right.