Janacek - Jenufa / Davis- Alexander- Silja- Glyndebourne Opera

Product Description Leo Janacek's masterpiece tells a tale of passion, betrayal, and the transfiguring power of love. Conducted by Andrew Davis. Amazon.com Janacek's masterpiece Jenufa, captured in this 1989 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production, is among the most revived modernist works. Compared with much grand opera, the story of one woman's struggle to rise free from social constraints at a terrible cost is remarkably poignant, credible, and accessible. Scenes are short and intense. The music shimmers with Janacek's characteristic blend of sweetness and sharp dissonance. Tragedy is inevitable, but here, unusually, hope triumphs. In the title role, Roberta Alexander is utterly convincing as the stepdaughter of the Kostelnicka Buryja, placing her love and trust in the wrong man, with dire consequences. As the Kostelnicka, Anja Silja turns in an equally towering performance, unraveling with the awful consequences of her pragmatism. Alexander's fluid soprano reveals the extraordinary beauty of some of Janacek's finest arias: the moment when she becomes supernaturally aware of her baby's fate and is actually singing prayers for its soul is quite overwhelming. This Jenufa is sung splendidly, a revelation of the essential humanity that lurks at the heart of the greatest operas. --Piers Ford