But Valerie Masterson is also superb as Cleopatra (disguised as the servant Lydia). On her aria Lamenting, Complaining Caesar is made to comment “Great Jove in his heaven has no melody to equal such peerless singing.” You can’t but agree — unless it’s Janet Baker’s own.
“No characters, no tunes,” said the poet W.H. Auden in dismissing Janacek’s operas. In one sense this is true, but the secret to enjoying them is to listen to the orchestra — it, not the vocal lines, contains the music’s beauty. Janacek anticipates Philip Glass (who also turned to opera) and, when given performances that balance spectacle, rhythm and brilliance of sound, his often bizarre creations readily spring to life.
Sexuality in nature is the theme of The Cunning Little Vixen (1924), and it’s consistently delightful in a 1995 production from the Theatre Musical de Paris — Chatelet. It’s child-like, but at the same time warns us all of the folly of ever completely growing up. Thomas Allen and Eva Jenis lead the cast, the majority of whom are young dancers. The pictorial quality is innocent, vivid and funny, like the comic-strip where Janacek first discovered his story. Guilt-free sex, including group sex, forms this production’s unexpected theme, especially in its dances. An anti-puritan belief in the innocent beauty of nature and life is the opera’s real message. Sex overcomes death, and life goes on for ever.
— BRADLEY WINTERTON
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