This 1962 recording of The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Janácek's only mature comic opera, is reissued as part of Supraphon's series, Czech Opera Treasures, recordings of complete operas from its archive made available for the first time on CD. This is a historic release because it is the first recording in Czech, and the one that brought the opera to the attention of the West. At this point, though, it is of interest primarily as a historical document because it uses the heavily edited edition of the score that smoothed out ...
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This 1962 recording of The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Janácek's only mature comic opera, is reissued as part of Supraphon's series, Czech Opera Treasures, recordings of complete operas from its archive made available for the first time on CD. This is a historic release because it is the first recording in Czech, and the one that brought the opera to the attention of the West. At this point, though, it is of interest primarily as a historical document because it uses the heavily edited edition of the score that smoothed out the composer's idiosyncrasies and makes the opera sound sweetly and lushly post-Romantic. The 2008 Deutsche Grammophon recording, with Jirí Belohlávek leading the BBC Singers and Symphony Orchestra, takes precedence because it uses the critical edition of the score by Charles Mackerras and Jirí Zahrádka that reinstates the composer's intentions and is a far more authentic representation of the opera. That recording, with Czech singers in all the principal roles, is superb, and the...
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