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List Price: $31.98 | | Label: Chandos
Salesrank: 94655
Released: October 21, 2003 |
| Our Price: $18.73 |
| Used Price: $15.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen Reviews:
I couldn't get it to play 
2009-10-07 - The track names were to long to work properly in iTunes and so many of them didn't load.
The Cunning Little Vixen rocks 
2009-09-12 - The Cunning Little Vixen is a folk opera in comparison to some of Janacek's more serious works. This production is very good. The English helps in moving the story line along without having to look at translations. The voices are excellent for the roles they are playing. I would recommend this production for anyone who is interested in becoming familiar with this fine composer's work.
Forest Phantasy for Grown-ups 
2009-01-10 - This is not a Disney "Bambi" but for adults who have had some time to reflect on life and love. When the chickens fail to rally when exhorted to social revolution, the Vixen kills a few of them. Unplanned pregnancy results in a quick wedding. The forester/gamekeeper speaks for the composer at the end of the opera. Be advised that the Chandos recording is in English, if this is important to your listening pleasure. All is beautifully sung and played.
May be english, but it is excellent
2005-03-01 - There is nothing like the Cunning Little Vixen. It's a masterpiece, and it's not even Janacek's best Opera! This recording, sung in english, serves the work well.
The orchestra and chorus are very well lead by Rattle. The vixen's dream in the first act is beautifully played. The translation is easy on the ears, fits the music well, and all the singers have excellent diction. Lillian Watson's Vixen is well sung, a nice lyric voice that suits the part very nicely. "Can it be that I am beautiful?" is heart-stoppingly beautiful. Sir Thomas Allen is his usual peerless self. As far as I'm conserned, he is the Forester. His wonderful song in the Tavern is so incredably well sung it should be entered into the hall of fame. Diana Montague is an excellent fox, and Gwynne Howell and Robert Tear are touching and wonderfull as the priest and the Schoolmaster. Howell also is a properly Pompus badger, and Tear is a humoros Mosquito. Nicholas Fowell is a creepy Harasta and Karen Shelby makes a nice Dog. 5/5
A Splendid Remastering of the 1991 EMI Session
2004-03-24 - This underrated modern opera, this time in English and conducted by Simon Rattle, is one most opera-lovers should own. I found this English performance warmly dramatic and listenable. Rattle's reading is more romantic and well-rounded than the Decca classic. Should the translation dissuade the buyer? Not at all. Some of the translated expressions are Brit expressions, but they work beautifully. When in doubt, just but the Mackerras version too.
The remastering here has opened up the acoustic of the original recording so the performance sounds as though it might have happened yesterday. The orchestra is alert and playful. The singers cannot be bettered. Lilian Watson is a superb, characterful Vixen Sharp-Ears, Diana Montague is a Fox to die for and Thomas Allen is -- well -- Thomas Allen. Did the man ever cut a bad record?
At roughly 100 minutes, and in a superbly packaged set with an all-new booklet with helpful notes and libretto, what are you waiting for?
I place this recording among my top 25 opera recordings in any language. And that's scary. Five stars, without remorse.
