Katya Kabanova
 
Jenůfa
Osud (Fate)
 
The Guardian
'Just when Sir Charles Mackerras seemed to have made his final recording of Janáček, he offers this richly illuminating account of the composer's most approachable opera, Jenůfa.'
 

The Guardian

'....this is a score full of colour, less fragmentary in texture than later Janáček, and this fine recording in English brings out its winning warmth...'

Gramophone

'Rattle's warmly expressive conducting demonstrates throughout the special love he has for this score, with the Covent Garden orchestra responding brilliantly.'

Great Operatic Arias - Elizabeth Futral
The Cunning Little Vixen

Gramophone
Editor’s Choice
‘Mackerras returns to a masterpiece and, in English, it's another triumph.’

BBC Radio 3
Disc of the Week

The Makropulos Case
Jenůfa
International Record Review

'This is another stunning success, with soloists including Janice Watson - sweet- voiced as Jenůfa - and Josephine Barstow as an ideally malevolent, vulnerable and paranoid Kostelnička... The Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera are
cause for rejoicing, as is the recording quality. The performance is conducted by Mackerras with a combination of theatrical urgency and spaciousness in the phrasing which makes for rapturous music-making.'

Classics Today
'It is acknowledged that Janáček's operas are most effective when they are sung in Czech, and therefore this achievement deserves extra praise the end product is almost overwhelming in its potency and ability to move. It is no coincidence that such a superb reading should be led by Charles Mackerras. Don't toss away Söderstrom, but Chandos is now number one.'

The Makropulos Case

The Times
‘Cheryl Barker cements her Janáček credentials with a richly voiced Katya, fleeing wild-eyed into delirium from her evil mother-in-law Kabanicha (a steely Jane Henschel).'

The Sunday Times
‘The persistence of Peter Moores in sponsoring opera-in-English recordings means that works better appreciated in the vernacular — such as Janáček’s wordy opera about a 300-year-old diva and an equally long-running lawsuit — are getting the circulation they deserve. Recorded live at the London Coliseum last season, this set preserves a good cast... Cheryl Barker is a lyrical Elina Makropulos/Emilia Marty, the prima donna who changes her name and nationality to disguise her potion-induced longevity, and the supporting cast is admirable. As always, it is Mackerras’s idiomatic and evangelising conducting that makes the set collectible. Superb orchestral playing and vivid sound.'
6 January 2009