The second release in LSO Live’s cycle of Janáček opera recordings, Katya Kabanova tells a story of love, entrapment and, ultimately, tragedy. The album’s cast includes the superb tenor Simon O’Neill and, appearing in one of her signature roles as seen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Amanda Majeski as Katya with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
Majeski gives such heartfelt commitment to the role of Katya that one worries how she can come back down from the emotional peaks and precipices that she scales.
– Opera Today
Katya is young, sensitive, and desperate for love. But trapped in a remote country village with a bored husband and his snobbish family, she has no way out, until a summer thunderstorm changes everything. Uncompromisingly honest, and pulsing with intensely human emotion, the story of Katya Kabanova is written in music that cuts straight to the chase. The LSO’s concert stagings of classic operas always make headlines: and this one was no different. Enjoy this recording, captured live at the Barbican in January 2023 under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor
London Symphony Chorus
William Spaulding, Chorus Director
Simon O’Neill – tenor
Amanda Majeski – soprano
Katarina Dalayman – mezzo-soprano
Pavlo Hunka – bass-baritone
Andrew Staples – tenor
Ladislav Elgr – tenor
Magdalena Kozena – mezzo-soprano
Lukas Zeman – baritone
Claire Barnett-Jones – mezzo-soprano
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:39:26
Additional information
| Label | |
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| SKU | LSO08891 |
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| Instruments | opera vocals, Vocal mezzo-soprano, Vocal tenor, Vocal baritone, Choir, Orchestra, Vocal soprano |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | February 23, 2024 |
Janácek: Katya Kabanova - Act I
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | LSO08891 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
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| Instruments | opera vocals, Vocal mezzo-soprano, Vocal tenor, Vocal baritone, Choir, Orchestra, Vocal soprano |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | February 22, 2024 |
Janácek: Katya Kabanova - Acts II & III
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | LSO08892 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 32 Bit, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Conductors | |
| Instruments | Vocal mezzo-soprano, Vocal tenor, Vocal baritone, Choir, Orchestra, Vocal soprano |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | February 22, 2024 |
Press reviews
Classical Source
…You might think given Mackerras used an all-Czech cast with the exception of the great Swedish soprano and polymath, Elisabeth Söderström, that he would win out in terms of authenticity and certainly in the opening scene their pronunciation and declamation are obviously absolutely right. On the other-hand Rattle’s singers respond with equal conviction and make sure every word can be heard.
As Káťa’s vicious mother-in-law Kabachina, Katarina Dalayman is malevolent without going OTT. The love interest Boris’ equally nasty uncle Dikoj is finely characterised by Pavlo Hunka, as is Ladislav Elgr as his assistant Kudrjáŝ, who is more animated than Mackerras’ Zdenĕk Švehla in his Act 2 ballad and all of the smaller roles are well-taken.
Simon O’Neill uses plenty of dynamic variation and is suitably impassioned as Boris, if rather more Wagnerian than the fresh-voiced 25 year old Petr Dvorský. One can say much the same of Amanda Majeski, who uses her powerful voice to delineate every aspect of Káťa’s character, although Söderström’s top is sweeter and her death is unforgettably poignant.
Sound-wise I downloaded the DSD512 from NativeDSD, which, with the warts and all acoustic, is as near as you can get to being there, with tremendous presence and projection and analogue-like instrumental and vocal timbres.
MusicWeb International
This review is of the recently-released recording of concert stagings sung in Czech and recorded live at the Barbican in January 2023 by a cast of distinguished soloists and the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) under Sir Simon Rattle. It has to be said at the outset that this Káťa Kabanová is superb; it is recommended without hesitation as an additional and/or first recording of Janáček’s most lyrical opera.
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