United Kingdom Janáček, The Excursions of Mr Brouček (‘Výlety páně Broučkovy’, live performance efficiency): Soloists, Tenebrae; London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (conductor). Barbican Corridor, London, 4.5.2025 (CC)
Solid:
Broućek – Peter Hoare
Mazal / Blankytný / Petřík – Aleš Briscein
Málinka / Etherea / Kunka – Lucy Crowe
Sakristán / Svatopluk / Lunobor / Domšīk – Gyula Orendt
Würfl / Čaroskvouci / Ratscherr – Lukáš Zeman
Číšnīček / Wunderkind / Pupil – Doubravka Novotná
Kedruta – Hanna Hipp
Básník / Oblačný / Vacek – Arttu Kataja
Artist / Dohuslav / Vojta – Stephan Rügamer
Skladatel / Harfoboj / Miroslav – Linard Vrielink
Sir Simon Rattle continues his personal excursions into Janáček opera with the surrealist The Excursions of Mr Brouček, impressed by the satirical tales of Svatopluk Ćech’s tales in regards to the titular character. There was a pained journey to the ultimate libretto (5 librettists are listed, 4 for the Moon act and one for the Prague).
The story is actually enjoyable, and wildly satirical. Mr Brouček seems in two tales (each of which have an Act I and an Act II; there are two Components). All of it begins in Prague, in 1888, on a moonlit evening in Hradčany. Matěj Brouček is drunk (Peter Hoare was hardly ever and not using a beer bottle on the Barbican Corridor stage); he meets Málinka, who’s upset about her two-timing lover Mazal (who occurs to be Brouček’s tenant). After providing to marry Málinka, he modifies his thoughts and goals of a better life on the moon. Scene 2 of Act I is a moonscape, and it seems Brouček may need made a blunder: the moon is an artist colony and a haven for intellectuals (hated by Brouček). He meets the ‘lunar artist’ Blankytný (Mazal’s lunar twin) who has a ardour for Etherea (Málinka). After singing a hymn to wholesome dwelling, Etherea falls in love with Brouček, and flies away with him (on Pegasus) to the Temple of the Arts. Act II of Half 1 takes place there, the place Brouček is the latest craze in lunar artwork. He’s attacked for consuming a sausage and flees. Lastly for the primary half, a return to Prague, the place Mazal and Málinka return residence at dawn. They’re advised by a waiter that Brouček is in a drunken haze, however the lovers can solely see one another,
The journey to the Prague of the fifteenth century begins on the Fort of St Wenceslas. Broućek falls, drunk, right into a cellar the place he meets numerous personages from the distant previous, together with the poet Svatopluk Čech, who regrets what he sees because the ethical decline of the Czech nation. And so to The Previous City Sq. in 1420: town is beneath siege from the German armies of the Holy Roman Empire. Brouček is mistaken for a German spy. Within the second act, Brouček finds he should defend Prague, and exits. He’s accused of treason and sentenced to demise in a burning barrel. Off now to 1888, and the Prague of the very opening of the night. Brouček is present in a barrel.
The piece is of astonishing invention: Janáček’s maverick originality is never as clear as right here. And neither has the orchestral contribution been so uniformly revealed. The opening is technically advanced, with its recurring stopped horn color destabilising the strings, and people attribute Janáček, slab-like juxtapositions. Excessive strings had been as silk, and preternaturally collectively. The opera wants somebody who absolutely understands the composer’s manner of working, and Rattle suits the invoice completely. These juxtapositions can work on the micro-scale, too, between particular person gestures, and right here, Rattle introduced out the LSO’s quicksilver responses. One additionally felt pre-echoes of Janáček’s Sinfonietta (1926) in a few of the brass writing, glowingly carried out right here. Solo violin contributions by chief Benjamin Marquise Gilmore had been finely projected, actual highpoints. The orchestra used is massive, and the composer finds a symphony of color; not least in the usage of bagpipes (Bert Van Troyen).
Peter Hoare’s assumption of Brouček was a miracle: drunk but nuanced, and completely untiring (the writing is fairly relentless). As Mazal, Aleš Briscein was unrelentingly loud within the first half (which befits a sure kind of drunk, after all), his higher register robust and fearless. There are three feminine components, all beautifully taken: soprano Lucy Crowe who vocally shapeshifted between Málinka, Etherea, and Kunka, whereas revealing a splendidly silvery tone; soprano Doubravka Novotná, glistening, full-voiced; and eventually soprano Hanna Hipp, who by no means fails to impress and so Kedruta was no exception.
If I discovered Dutch tenor Linard Vrielink quite quiet, the skilled Stephan Rügamer was a delight, giving his all in three roles. Baritone Gyula Orendt was a agency Sacristan (each within the Prague of the Eighteen Eighties and of the 1400s), fellow baritone Lukáš Zeman a agency landlord; anther time-shifting character who stored his occupation was sung by Arttu Kataja, each poet and lunar poet, finely etched in each.
The refrain was luxurious casing in itself: Tenebrae (Nigel Brief was the refrain director), faultless all through. The male voices are notably known as upon, and shone; within the second half, the refrain turns into a Slavic church choir, a outstanding feint superbly completed right here.
After all, this isn’t the primary Barbican Brouček: Jiří Bělohlávek carried out it there with the BBC Symphony Refrain and Orchestra; the one shared forged member was Aleš Briscein. That efficiency was launched by DG and the Rattle efficiency will make a useful addition to the Brouček discography.
Colin Clarke
