Album

Charles Mackerras has long been a passionate advocate of Janácek's music, and this is his second recording of The Makropulos Case, the first being a 1978 version in the original Czech with Elisabeth Söderström. The recording for Chandos is part of its growing Opera in English series. Janácek so adamantly insisted on the inseparability of his vocal music from the Czech language that any performance in translation must be cautiously evaluated. Much is changed when the composer's scrupulous text setting is sacrificed for the sake of comprehensibility, but in an opera as full of critical narrative details as The Makropulos Case, the trade-off seems reasonable. The quality of the translation done by Norman Tucker further justifies the decision; the meaning is always clear and the English prosody is natural and unforced. The soloists in the production by the English National Opera are uniformly excellent, creating believable and vividly imagined characters. Soprano Cheryl Barker holds the stage with her riveting portrayal of Emilia Marty, and sings radiantly in the opera's remarkable apotheosis. Mackerras conducts with fervor and draws a fiery performance from the English National Opera Orchestra. Chandos' sound is clean and spatially realistic. The set includes an intriguing 30-minute interview with Mackerras, in which he describes his discovery and promulgation of Janácek's music and discusses The Makropulos Case.

© Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Leoš Janáček Composer The Makropulos Case (Vec Makropulos; opera), JW 1/10...Act 1 Work 35:42 English National Opera Chorus Chorus/Choir, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Kathleen Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Cheryl Barker Soprano, Sir Charles Mackerras Conductor, Martin Merry Chorus/Choir Director, Robert Brubaker Tenor, Susanna Tudor-Thomas Mezzo-Soprano, John Wegner Baritone, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Thomas Walker Tenor, Graham Clark Tenor, Elena Xanthoudakis Soprano, Neal Davies Bass-baritone, Graeme Danby Bass
1	1.Prelude	5:22			$0.99
2	2.Oh dear, my goodness!	4:14			$0.99
3	3.Daddy, she really is wonderful	1:55			$0.99
4	4.Come this way please	11:23			$1.99
5	5.Gone at last!	5:53			$0.99
6	6.Emilia	4:10			$0.99
7	7.Found it! We've foundit	2:45			$0.99
Leoš Janáček Composer The Makropulos Case (Vec Makropulos; opera), JW 1/10...Act 2 Work 30:24 English National Opera Chorus Chorus/Choir, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Kathleen Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Cheryl Barker Soprano, Sir Charles Mackerras Conductor, Martin Merry Chorus/Choir Director, Robert Brubaker Tenor, Susanna Tudor-Thomas Mezzo-Soprano, John Wegner Baritone, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Thomas Walker Tenor, Graham Clark Tenor, Elena Xanthoudakis Soprano, Neal Davies Bass-baritone, Graeme Danby Bass
8	1.Did you ever see such flowers?	2:14			$0.99
9	2.Janek, come on. No one here will see us	6:35			$0.99
10	3.Excuse me. Excuse me, may I...	4:15			$0.99
11	4.And the next! Is that the lot?	1:34			$0.99
12	5.Allow me to ask you this question	6:29			$0.99
13	6.Is that you, Bertie?	9:17			$1.49
CD 2 of 2
Leoš Janáček Composer The Makropulos Case (Vec Makropulos; opera), JW 1/10...Act 3 Work 29:33 English National Opera Chorus Chorus/Choir, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Kathleen Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Cheryl Barker Soprano, Sir Charles Mackerras Conductor, Martin Merry Chorus/Choir Director, Robert Brubaker Tenor, Susanna Tudor-Thomas Mezzo-Soprano, John Wegner Baritone, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Thomas Walker Tenor, Graham Clark Tenor, Elena Xanthoudakis Soprano, Neal Davies Bass-baritone, Graeme Danby Bass
1	1.Well? D'you hear me?	5:30			$0.99
2	2.Buenos dias Maxi! Why so early?	3:29			$0.99
3	3.The seal and th'initials E.M.	12:20			$1.99
4	4.Fetch the doctor!	8:14			$1.49
Spoken Word (No Composer) Composer Interview with Sir Charles Mackerras Work 29:25 Sir Charles Mackerras Conductor
5	[Part 1]	3:11			$0.99
6	[Part 2]	2:11			$0.99
7	[Part 3]	1:23			$0.99
8	[Part 4]	3:03			$0.99
9	[Part 5]	4:13			$0.99
10	[Part 6]	15:24			$2.49