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If you love Janácek, you probably already own these recordings because to love Janácek means to love his five greatest operas, his supreme artistic achievements, and to love his five final operas means to love these recordings, by common agreement the best performances any of them ever received. The central reason for this is the conducting of Charles Mackerras. Born in Schenectady, trained in Prague, and based in London, Mackerras is the heir of the native tradition of leading Janácek's passionate and eccentric music, and these recordings made between 1977 and 1986 are unsurpassed for their depth of understanding and dramatic intensity. Mackerras' casts are likewise unexcelled. Swedish soprano Elisabeth Söderström and Czech tenor Peter Dvorsky take the leads in Jenufa, Kat'a Kabanova, and The Makropulos Case, and their voices have just the right balance of the lyric and the dynamic, the human and the extraordinary. The luscious Lucia Popp sings the title role of The Cunning Little Vixen with sprightly sublimity and the almost all-male cast sings From the House of the Dead with heroic compassion. With the superlative playing of the Vienna Philharmonic, the inclusion of stunning recordings of Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba, and Decca's rich, deep, and detailed sound, if you love Janácek, you probably already have these recordings. And if you love Janácek and you don't, now's the time. Start with the finale from Act Three of Jenufa: it'll rip your heart out. ~ James Leonard, Rovi
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