Customer Rating: 
Summary: A magnificent sampler from Janacek's operas
Comment: Some of the comments here are incoherent, but this 1996 CD has no vocal material on it, even though the music is derived from four of Janacek's operas. The conductor, Jose Serebrier, long associated with Janacek's music, was a protoge of Leopold Stokowski, who made once-popular "symphonic syntheses" of Wagner operas and Boris Godunov. Serebrier follows in his footsteps with a synthesis from The Makropoulos Case that takes up half of this hour-long CD. The short suite from The Cunning Little Vixen was made by the legendary Czech conductor Vaclav Talich. The two remaining short preludes come from Janacek's first and last operas, Jealousy and From the House of the Dead.
Janacek, like Bartok, began in the idiom of folk songs and peasant dance rhythms, only to find his own modernist voice. Of the two, Janacek remained more loyal to tonality; some of the music could have come from Korngold in a sober moment. The Jealousy music still sounds like advanced Dvorak, while the very late From the House of the Dead echoes the Sinfonietta. Massed brass appears in both works, along with soaring string lines and pummeling percussion. All these works are exciting and make one want to run to play the complete operas.
Refernce is an audiophile label; they don't disappoint here in the perfectly balanced, natural sound, which makes the provincial Brno orchestra sound as god as it possibly could. In all, an excellent sampler of Janacek's amazingly fertile imaginaiton.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully lush recording from Serebrier
Comment: I have had this CD for over a year now and find that it has become one that I return to again and again. This recording of suites, preludes and orchestral syntheses from Janacek's operas reinforces my belief that Janacek was one of the most emotionally direct composers of the 19th & 20th centuries.The music here spans over 25 years of Janacek's operatic career, from the prelude Jealousy - originally intended for Jenufa - to the Prelude to From the House of the Dead, Janacek's final work. Everything here is emotionally affecting, full of lush string passages and surging climaxes. To some extent, the mosaic-like structure of his instrumental works such as the Sinfonietta is lessened in conjunction with the dramatic organization of opera, giving these works a more Romantic, narrative-driven feeling - a different view of the composer for those like myself who know him best through the instrumental compositions.
The performance and recording are wonderfully warm. Serebrier handles these works very well. Highly recommended
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Warning
Comment: I ordered this CD because I thought it would contain The Makropoulos Case in its entirety; but NO, it actually contains only an orchestral suite derived from the opera! So now I've warned you; if you're looking for the whole Makropoulos Case, look somewhere else because it's not here, folks.That being said, the CD sounds wonderful; very well played, so 5 stars for the musicians, 3 stars for the misleading packaging!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Breathtaking Opera
Comment: I had never heard this piece of music, although I'd heard OF it several times before, having read a review of Jessye Norman's rendition with the Met about five years or so ago. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only recording currently in print, and it does not disappoint.Serebrier's conducting is tight and sympathetic to the story of an egomaniacal diva who is, by all appearances, a beautiful, albeit vain, Dorian Gray (she's actually well over 300 years old). Her voice and her looks have brought her far, but she's now out of the potion she originally mixed up and drank three centuries before, and she faces the possibility that her 300 years may catch up with her. Throughout the rest of the opera, she spends her time trying to reproduce the formula, and by the fitting finale, she realizes that immortality wasn't exactly the cat's pajamas in the first place.
This is my first outing with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra since the dissolution of what once was Czechoslovakia; they carry on the tradition of a slick production that even the fiercest Soviet Bloc stalwart would be proud to add to his or her collection. The music is lush but without overpowering a strong vocal performance, and the digital post-performance processing leaves you with the warmth that you could (once upon a time) only reach through the recording on vinyl. Sigh...
If you enjoyed Janacek's "Taras Bulba," this is the obvious progression from there. Pick up a copy, close your eyes, and allow yourself to be transported.
