Jenůfa, her step-daughter (Brno version)
Opera in three acts
Libretto by the composer
after Gabriela Preissová's play Její pastorkyňa
English version by Edward Downes and Otakar Kraus
The Cast
Elizabeth Vaughan, mezzo-soprano
- Grandmother Buryjovka
Dame Josephine Barstow, soprano
- The Kostelniáčka
Janice Watson, soprano - Jenůfa
Peter Wedd, tenor (PMF Scholar) - Števa Buryja
Nigel Robson, tenor - Laca Kleme
Neal Davies, baritone - Foreman
Alan Fairs, bass - Mayor
Marian McCullough, mezzo-soprano - Mayor's Wife
Charlotte Ellett, soprano (PMF Scholar) - Karolka
Claire Hampton, soprano - Jano
Rosie Hay, soprano - Barena
Imelda Drumm, mezzo-soprano - Maid
Sarah Pope, mezzo-soprano - Village woman
Chorus of Welsh National Opera
Orchestra of Welsh National Opera
Sir Charles Mackerras - conductor
Recorded in Brangwyn Hall, 20-26 July 2003
Producer - Brian Couzens, Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens, Assistant engineer - Michael Common
The Guardian
'The sumptuous Chandos recording places the words a little farther back than the Decca recording... the benefit of that is that the colour and originality of Janáček's orchestral textures come over more vividly. In sound at once opulent and well-defined, each strand is clarified and the exotic percussion effects brought out.
For the title role... Janice Watson has a beautiful voice, she sounds aptly young, fresh and girlish, in one of her finest recorded performances. As the Kostelniáčka, Dame Josephine Barstow... brings out not only the obsessive side of this powerful character but also an element of vulnerability. The two big monologues at the end of Act II provide a chilling climax: the Kostelniáčka first hysterically deciding to murder the baby; Jenůfa tender at first, giving way to distraught concern over her missing baby before resignedly praying to the Virgin.'
