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Janácek: Naxos completes cycle of opera suites

(May 2010)

Naxos has completed its collection of orchestral suites from Janácek’s operas, in arrangements by Peter Breiner. The third disc contains suites from The Cunning Little Vixen and From the House of the Dead, performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Breiner (Naxos 8.570576). The usually performed Vixen suite, created by Talich in the 1930s, adopts a simplified orchestration and uses material only from Act I, whereas Breiner’s 40-minute suite returns to Janácek’s original scoring and covers the trajectory of the opera as a whole, also including the Vixen’s courtship, marriage and eventual death at the hands of the poacher.

The suite from Janácek’s final opera, From the House of the Dead, includes the Overture, Pantomime and four other movements, which capture the composer’s vision of hope amidst the bleakness of a Siberian prison. The earlier releases in the Naxos series featured suites from Jenufa and The Excursions of Mr Broucek (8.57055) and Kát’a Kabanová coupled with The Makropulos Affair (8.570556). As Gramophone wrote: “the extracts are expertly chosen by Peter Breiner… for a minimal outlay the music delivers treasure upon treasure”.

All six suites are available on hire from Boosey & Hawkes (some territorial restrictions may apply). For perusal scores please email composers.uk@boosey.com

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