Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
Káťa Kabanová (1919-1921)
All details at the end of the review
rec. live, August 2022, Felsenreitschule, Salzburg Festival, Austria
Unitel Edition 809108 DVD [103]
Janáček first received international acclaim with his opera, Jenůfa, which he completed in 1904, but it was the last four operas he composed in the final years of his life where his reputation as an opera composer was really cemented. Káťa Kabanová was the first of these, based on Burya (“The Storm”), a play by the nineteenth-century Russian, Alexander Ostrovsky. The opera takes place on the banks of the Volga River, depicting Russian provincial life and centered on the Kabanov family. The matriarch is the widowed Marfa Kabanová, or Kabanicha, who humiliates her weak son, Tichon, and even worse his wife Katěrina, or Káťa, that eventually drives the daughter-in-law to suicide after her affair with Boris Grigorjevič, the nephew of the merchant Dikoj. As with Janáček’s other mature operas, the action is terse and the music reflects the composer’s ability to transcribe themes based on Czech speech. Káťa Kabanová received its premiere on 23 November 1921 at the National Theatre in Brno, though the DVD booklet mistakenly gives the year as 1918. After the successful premiere, the opera was staged outside the Czech lands and remains Janáček’s most popular opera after Jenůfa. There have been a number of recordings of Káťa Kabanová, the reference version being that of Charles Mackerras and the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic on Decca.
This new production, directed by Barrie Kosky, is from the 2022 Salzburg Festival, its main competition on video that of a 2008 Madrid Teatro Real performance conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek (FRA Musica). The two productions complement each other in their staging and both offer splendid performances by the respective casts. While the earlier account has water everywhere—the cast continually having to balance on wooden planks on a very watery surface, this new one is almost completely devoid of the substance. The setting is supposed to be at the Volga and there is a thunderstorm at the beginning of Act III. Here there is no sign of water or a storm. The principals claim to have gotten wet there, but no rain is shown and no thunder heard. When Káťa ends her life, she disappears in a square hole in the floor. Another thing I find problematic with this production is the nearly constant presence of a line of manikins along the back wall of the stage that are transformed only late in the opera into real people, who then embody the chorus. The staging overall is very spare and dark with the cast entering and existing through the “wall” of manikins. If only the video had action that took place in the time period of the play on which the opera is based and the cast were dressed in clothing of the period. Here they are in modern street clothing, but more casual than the costumes in the Madrid video. The acting, however, is quite superb and the characters are brought to life believably more so than in the Madrid production. The singing per se is exceptionally fine in both accounts.
Corinne Winters is especially memorable as Káťa, conveying all the emotions of the part in a moving performance. Her radiant soprano is every bit the equal of Karita Mattila for Bělohlávek and she looks younger, too. She is well matched by David Butt Philip as Boris, whereas I prefer Guy de Mey, the Tichon in the earlier account. Both tenors in this part are excellent vocally, but Jaroslav Březina seems older than I envision Tichon. He characterizes the part well as does Philip in his role. The young couple, Váňa Kudrjáš and Varvara, are portrayed extremely well by Benjamin Hulett and Jarmila Balážová. Their love duet in the folksong concluding Act II is about as touching as one could wish, beautifully sung and a good break from the darkness elsewhere. There is little to choose between the Kabanichas in the two productions. Both Evelyn Herlitzius here and Dalia Schaechter there epitomize the domineering role of the mother-in-law, and Herlitzius, if anything, is even more terrifying as she totally rules the roost. Her scene with the drunken Dikoj in Act II really goes over the top where he has dropped his trousers and she goes after him with her walking stick. This is very effective, if cruder than what Janáček intended.
Comparison of the final act in the two performances is enlightening. Where the couples embrace in this production, they are still separated on the wooden planks in the watery finale of the Madrid one. There is a much greater perception of intimacy between Káťa and Boris, and Varvara and Kudrjáš in this new production. The conclusion of the opera also is stronger with Jakub Hrůša and the Vienna Philharmonic, giving their all in the forceful ending by the orchestra. Overall, the Madrid orchestra holds its own in the earlier account, though there is no denying the advantage of the venerable Vienna Philharmonic here.
The video and sound on this DVD are generally as good as on the Teatro Real Blu-ray, though I had to increase the volume a bit to achieve the full effect here. The FRA Blu-ray also contains an interview on the opera by the stage director, Robert Carsen, and conductor Bělohlávek, whereas this new one contains only the opera and a few promo videos. Both of these accounts have plenty to offer Janáček devotees who wish to see the opera as well as hear it. For everyone else I would still recommend the Mackerras CD on Decca with Elisabeth Söderström in the title role that is in a class by itself.
Leslie Wright
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Performers
Káťa: Corinne Winters (soprano)
Kabanicha: Evelyn Herlitzius (soprano)
Boris: David Butt Philip (tenor)
Kudrjáš: Benjamin Hulett (tenor)
Varvara: Jarmila Balážová (mezzo-soprano)
Dikoj: Jens Larsen (bass)
Tichon: Jaroslav Březina (tenor)
Kuligin: Michael Mofidian (bass-baritone)
Glaša: Nicole Chirka (mezzo-soprano)
Fekluša: Ann-Kathrin Niemczyk (soprano)
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor/Huw Rhys James
Wiener Philharmoniker/Jakub Hrůša
Production staff
Stage director: Barrie Kosky
Set designer: Rufus Didwiszus
Costume designer: Victoria Behr
Lighting designer: Franck Evin
Dramatic advisor: Christian Arseni
Video director: Felix Breisach
Video details
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound formats: PCM Stereo/DTS 5.0
Sung in Czech
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese
