Classical CDs: Janáček, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, John Wilson | reviews, news & interviews Classical CDs: Janáček, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, John Wilson Classical CDs: Janáček, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, John Wilson An arboreal opera, two Soviet symphonies and some rarely heard English string music by Graham RicksonSaturday, 16 January 2021
Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley, Sophia Burgos London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Simon Rattle (LSO Live)
Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley, Sophia Burgos London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Simon Rattle (LSO Live) You know this is going to be good within seconds of Act 1 awakening, Janáček’s arboreal prelude teeming with life. Making this tricksy score sound so natural and unforced takes rare skill, and it’s to Simon Rattle’s credit that his pliant London Symphony Orchestra play with such care and affection. Orchestrally this is easily a match for Charles Mackerras’s vibrant Vienna version, recorded under studio conditions in the early 1980s. Passages like the first act’s brief, ecstatic Interlude really take wing, the idyll abruptly shattered by the dog and the cockerel. They’re brilliantly characterised by Anna Lapkovskaja and Peter Hoare, another of this set’s joys being an excellent supporting cast. There’s not a weak link. Owls, jays, frogs, poultry – all vividly portrayed, with a special shout out to Jan Martiník’s grumpy badger cameo at the start of Act 2.