Janáček Jenůfa opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2021 by Damiano Michieletto at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin. Stars Hanna Schwarz (Grandmother Buryjovka), Stuart Skelton (Laca Klemeň), Ladislav Elgr (Števa Buryja), Evelyn Herlitzius (Kostelnička Buryjovka), Camilla Nylund (Jenůfa), Jan Martiník (Foreman), David Oštrek (Mayor), Natalia Skrycka (Mayor's Wife), Evelin Novak (Karolka), Aytaj Shikhalizada (Herdswoman), Adriane Queiroz (Barena), Victoria Randem (Jano), and Anna Kissjudit (Auntie). Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Martin Wright). Set design by Paolo Fantin; costume design by Carla Teti; co-costume designers were Giulia Giannino and Carsta Köhler; lighting design by Alessandro Carletti; choreography by Thomas Wilhelm; dramatic advisor was Benjamin Wäntig. Directed for TV by Beatrix Conrad. Sung in Czech. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Hugo Shirley lavishes praises on this in the July 2022 Gramophone (page 92), especially for “Herlitzius’s astonishing Kostelnička” and Rattle getting “playing of imposing lyrical sweep and power from the Staatskapelle.” In the January 2023 Opera News, this was called the No. 1 Best Opera recording for 2022.
This was made during the pandemic. The chorus sings spaced out around the auditorium so as to take on a “ritualistic role of impassive observers” as directed by Michieletto. This may make this a unique recording from the strange time of Covid.
Here’s a trailer from C Major:
OR
