Leoš Janáček - Opera Suites Vol. 3 (Peter Breiner)

Information

Composer: Leoš Janáček

• The Cunning Little Vixen
• From the House of the Dead

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Peter Breiner, conductor & arranger

Date: 2009

Label: Naxos

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Review

Peter Breiner’s arrangements of music from these two operas succeed on a number of levels. First, the two works offer a great deal of symphonic music to work with (the ballets in Vixen, and the overture and pantomime in House). Second, he has arranged the excerpts very intelligently for continuous listening. In the Vixen Suite it’s great to hear the scene in Act 3 with the baby foxes, and it makes an excellent lead-in to the final bars. Similarly, the preludes to the second and third acts of House are nicely integrated into lengthier tracts of music.

Yes, I have a couple of quibbles. The added percussion is completely unnecessary: why all the triangle in the Vixen suite? Obviously there’s nothing wrong with substituting instruments for vocal lines, or filling out the texture of bare accompaniments, but Breiner gets a bit carried away in spots (though certainly not worse than Janácek’s early arrangers, Vaclav Talich included).

As a conductor, Breiner is almost totally successful. Occasionally his tempos drag a bit, as in the “Eagle, King of the Forests” music in House, or in the closing scene of the Vixen’s first act–it ought to be mayhem personified, but here it’s simply too careful. Elsewhere, everything goes very well, with the New Zealand Symphony making a more positive impression here than in earlier releases in this series. Perhaps it’s at least partly due to the generally more colorful orchestration, which the engineering projects to vivid effect. Strongly recommended. [9/10/2009]

— David Hurwitz

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Leoš Janáček (3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century. He studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. His earlier works was influenced by contemporaries such as Dvořák, but later he began to incorporate his studies of national folk music and language to create a highly original synthesis. Janáček's later works, which are his most celebrated, include operas Káťa Kabanová and The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sinfonietta, the Glagolitic Mass, the rhapsody Taras Bulba, two string quartets, and other chamber works.

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Peter Breiner (born 3 July 1957) is a Slovak conductor, pianist, composer, arranger and writer. A graduate of the Košice Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, he has led orchestras in Europe, Asia, North America and New Zealand. Known for Baroque-style adaptations of pop and holiday music, his albums like Beatles Go Baroque and Christmas Goes Baroque are major successes. Breiner's arrangements of national anthems were used at the Olympics, while his Janáček suites made the Chicago Tribune's top ten list in 2009. His music is also featured in films, ballets, and concert broadcasts.

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