Jenůfa opera evaluation – Intense and sensible Janáček on the ENO

Thanks to a few excellent performances, two onstage and one within the orchestra pit, this manufacturing of Jenůfa gloriously demonstrates the heights the ENO can attain in addition to the magnificence of Janáček’s music.

Let’s begin with the music as a result of the Czech composer Leos Janáček had a singular fashion, with the orchestra and the singers usually seeming indifferent from one another, however combining to create a gripping emotional depth.

This was brilliantly captured by the Canadian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, whose exact management over tempo and quantity introduced out the perfect from the ENO Orchestra, with the contributions from the percussion and strings notably highly effective.

The story centres on the connection between two ladies: the younger and troubled Jenůfa and her pious step-mother, identified solely the Kostelnička, or sacristan, of the village church. 

Jenůfa, beautifully performed by Irish soprano Jennifer Davis, is in love with Števa, who’s a drunken lout and the Kostelnička decrees that he can solely marry her if he abstains from alcohol for a yr. This is unlucky, as Jenůfa is pregnant by Števa, although she has not but informed anybody. 

Meanwhile, Števa’s virtually equally loutish brother Laca is in love with Jenůfa and slashes her face in a frustration-caused accident. All of this develops within the first act, which paves the best way for a home drama unmatched by every other opera. 

Secrecy, deception, infanticide and emotional breakdown develop within the second act, all ensuing from the actions of the Kostelnička in her misguided makes an attempt to keep away from the dishonour of her step-daughter’s single being pregnant and illegitimate baby. The emotional depth of this function is completely captured by British soprano Susan Bullock, conveying the battle between self-righteousness and doubt about her excessive actions.

The nature of the story is usually exhausting to bear and the music is complicated and typically troublesome to hearken to, however Janáček’s Jenůfa is an undoubtled masterpiece and the present ENO manufacturing is a superbly devastating expertise.

My solely criticism of this revival of David Alden’s placing 2006 manufacturing lies within the English translation. Translating opera all the time poses issues matching the pure rhythms of our language to the rhythms of the music and all too usually, the phrases merely don’t match comfortably.

JENUFA AT THE ENO (varied dates till 27 March): eno.org or 020 7845 9300