Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen is the only opera equally inspired by nature and by a comic strip. Nature was provided by the High Tatra mountains of the composer's native Moravia. The comic strip came from the local evening paper Lidove noviny, which chronicled the ongoing adventures of a sly young fox. From these elements, Janácek composed an opera that is at once witty and touching, an ardent hymn to nature and a passionate song to life and love. Although Janácek himself did not create an orchestral suite from the work, the great Czech conductor Václav Talich extracted portions of the opera and formed a two-movement work that captures the luminous orchestrations, the vivacious rhythms, the hilarious humor, and the mysterious sense that there is something larger and glorious than even the sounds of nature that permeate the music. Although clearly not intended to be a substitute for Janácek's magnificent opera, Talich's suite is a superb introduction to the work's unique sound world.

© All Music Guide