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JEJI PASTORKYNA

(JENUFA or HER STEP-DAUGHTER )

By Leos Janacek

VIDEO: A) Gabriela Benackova, Barova, Pribyl, Jilek conducting; riveting and authoritative performance; recall NO subtitles; available on laserdisc only; JPN-PHLK 10005/6

B) Roberta Alexander, Anya Silja, Phillip Langridge, Colin Davis conducting; not so assured a cast, though solidly conducted; performance from the Glyndebourne Festival, 1989; has English subtitles; is available in VHS; HOM JEN 010

AUDIO: A) DECCA/LONDON: Elisabeth Söderström, Eva Randova, Wieslaw Ochman, Mackerras conducting; finest interpreter (Söderström) of Jenufa on disc, with accomplished colleagues and superb conducting; excellent stereo sound [G.R.]

B) BIS: Gabriela Benackova, Leonie Rysanek, Wieslaw Ochman, Queler conducting ("live", Carnegie Hall, 1988); Westerners call this opera Jenufa with no authorial sanction; the real title, Jeji Pastorkyna, meaning Her Step-Daughter, could mean that Kostelnicka, Jenufa's step-mother, may be the intended protagonist, not Jenufa; indeed it's Kostelnicka's crime on which the whole action turns; this Carnegie Hall broadcast features the finest interpreter (Rysanek) of Kostelnicka on disc, also with accomplished colleagues but with inferior conducting; stereo [G.R.]

For Further Reading:

Janacek's Operas : A Documentary Account by the Composer, by John Tyrrell

Jenufa and Katya Kabanova (English National Opera Guide, No 33) (SPECIAL ORDER), by Leos Janecek, Nicholas John

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