Janacek - The Excursions of Mr Broucek

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Label: Supraphon

Cat No: SU43392

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 5th July 2024

Works

Janacek, Leos

The Excursions of Mr Broucek

Artists

Jaroslav Brezina
Ales Briscein
Frantisek Zahradnicek
Alzbeta Polackova
Jiri Sulzenko
Roman Janal
Jiri Bruckler
Martin Srejma
Josef Moravec
Doubravka Souckova
Stanislava Jirku
Prague National Theatre Opera Chorus
Prague National Theatre Orchestra

Conductor

Jaroslav Kyzlink

Works

Janacek, Leos

The Excursions of Mr Broucek

Artists

Conductor

Jaroslav Kyzlink

About

In April 1920, following 12 years of intricate work, Leoš Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr Brouček premiered at the National Theatre in Prague, the one and only work of his to do so. A century later, the self-same theatre’s soloists, chorus and orchestra returned to the “Broučekiad” at the Rudolfinum in Prague. The present studio recording, after Neumann’s and Jílek’s only the third in the Supraphon catalogue, was thus in part made owing to the closure of theatres and concert halls during the recent Covid pandemic. Janáček dedicated The Excursions of Mr Brouček to T.G. Masaryk, the first President of the newly founded Czechoslovak Republic. Declining to celebrate the two nations’ acquired freedom and statehood by foregrounding Saint Wenceslas, Charles IV or another great figure of Czech history, the composer chose as the protagonist of his “national” opera one Mr Brouček, a narrow-minded oaf, coward, hypocrite, liar, boor and drunkard. A man overly fond of food and beer, possessing a simplistic worldview, suspicious of everything different and unaccustomed, loathing artists and intellectuals. In The Excursion of Mr Brouček to the Moon, his crassness clashes with the Moonlings’ aesthetic, highbrow affectation, while in The Excursion of Mr Brouček to the Fifteenth Century his unflinching self-centeredness, servility and mendacity contrast starkly with the ideals of the uncompromising Hussite warriors, fighting for “God’s truth”. As Janáček himself put it: “Brouček embodies our pettiness; made for stage.” One hundred years down the road, this picture of the “ordinary Czech” is still befitting, worthy of exposing. The new album features Jaroslav Březina, brilliantly portraying the lead character, and other distinguished Czech singers, under the seasoned conductor Jaroslav Kyzlink.

A significant role in enhancing the recording’s quality is played by spatial feeling of the recording process itself as well as by the Dvořák Hall’s splendid acoustics and colourful sound. By releasing the album, the National Theatre in Prague commemorates the 170th anniversary of the birth of Leoš Janáček, the most globally renowned of Czech opera composers.

Cast:
- Matěj Brouček: Jaroslav Březina
- Mazal / Azurean / Petřík: Aleš Briscein
- Sacristan / Lunigrove / Domšík of the Bell: František Zahradníček
- Málinka / Etherea / Kunka: Alžběta Poláčková
- Würfl / Wonderglitter / Councillor: Jiří Sulženko
- Poet / Cloudy / Another voice: Roman Janál
- Svatopluk Čech / Vacek the Bearded / First Taborite: Jiří Brückler
- Composer / Harper / Miroslav the Goldsmith: Martin Šrejma
- Painter / Glorious Rainbow / Professor’s voice / Vojta of the Peacocks / Second Taborite: Josef Moravec
- Young waiter / Child prodigy / Student: Doubravka Součková
- Kedruta Stanislava Jirků

Recorded at the Rudolfinum, Prague, 29 August 2020 and 17–18 May 2021

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Part 1 - Introduction
2

Part 1 - Act 1 Can One Believe Men
3

Part 1 - Act 1 Love, Yes, Love's Charming Flower
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Part 1 - Act 1 Malinka! I've a Diamond
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Part 1 - Act 1 Ha! Ha! What Monster Does Frigtten My Astonished Eye!
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Part 1 - Act 1 You Have Never yet Known Love
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Part 1 - Act 1 Fright Now Spreads from You Just like from Medusa!
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Part 1 - Act 2 This Meloda, Yes Indeed, but on the Bombardon!
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Part 1 - Act 2 Dance - You Clown, You! - You, Titan of Songs!
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Part 1 - Act 2 O Sweet Creature, You!
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Part 1 - Act 2 Come Here!
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Part 1 - Act 2 You're Dearer to Me
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Part 1 - Act 2 Interlude
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Part 1 - Act 2 With Lasting Laurels I Adorn Your Curls
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Part 2 - Act 1 There Were Deep Undergreound Passages
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Part 2 - Act 1 Help! Help!
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Part 2 - Act 1 O, You Sun of That Great Day
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Part 2 - Act 1 We Must Remember Well This Newly Found Short-Cut!
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Part 2 - Act 1 The Day of the Lord Begins!
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Part 2 - Act 2 Introduction - If I Weren´t Sitting Here
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Part 2 - Act 2 Here They Come from Church Service
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Part 2 - Act 2 Alas, the Name of Czechs Has Been Dragged
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Part 2 - Act 2 Hurrah, Tabor!
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Part 2 - Act 2 Change of Scene - Hejsasa! Hejsasa!
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Part 2 - Act 2 Look, One Is Crouching Here!
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Part 2 - Act 2 He Too Went with Us
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Part 2 - Act 2 Change of Scene - Ah! Ah! Ah!

Europadisc Review

Together with its immediate predecessor, Osud (‘Fate’), The Excursions of Mr Brouček belongs to Janáček’s ‘wilderness years’, composed between the local success of his third opera Jenůfa in Brno in 1904 and its eventual acceptance by Prague and wider international triumph, which in turn paved the way for the four great operas of Janáček’s late maturity. Both Osud and Brouček are problematic works, their gestation hampered by problems with librettists and dramatically flawed. Yet, as notable British productions in the 1970s and 80s proved, they can travel, given sensitive and imaginative stagings and a feel for the music’s unique fire.

The Excursions of Mr Brouček had a particularly tortuous gestation, initially comprising just the first half of the opera as it’s known today: Mr Brouček’s Excursion to the Moon, based on a satirical novel by Svatopluk Čech. During his work on it – over the best part of a decade – Janáček got through a succession of librettists, which made its text something of a patchwork. Eventually Janáček decided to jettison the original Epilogue (‘Mr Brouček at Home’) and instead add a new part (Mr Brouček’s Excursion to the 15th Century, taken from a sequel also by Čech), and work on this second part was completed in a matter of months with a single librettist, the amenable and efficient F.S. Procházka.

The completed opera was eventually premiered at the Prague National Theatre on 23 April 1920, conducted by Otakar Ostrčil: the only one of Janáček’s operas to be premiered outside his adopted hometown of Brno. That the Prague National Theatre should have special claims to Brouček is hardly surprising, as much of the action is set there, both in the ‘present day’ (i.e. the late 19th century) and in the 15th century during the period of the Hussite wars. Two existing Czech recordings by Supraphon – under Václav Neumann in 1962 and František Jílek in 1980 – were made there, the first with the Prague National Theatre, the second with the Czech Philharmonic. More recently, a much-admired recording by Jiří Bělohlávek and BBC forces was taken by Deutsche Grammophon from a live performance at London’s Barbican Centre in 2007, winning new admirers for this elusive but engaging and lovable work, which brims with sardonic wit, rousing patriotic music and moments of exquisite tenderness and wonderful scene-painting.

Now, the Prague National Theatre reinforces its claims to Brouček with a new Supraphon recording made during the pandemic period of a new production, in August 2020 and May 2021. Conducted by the experienced Janáček conductor Jaroslav Kyzlink, it uses Jiří Zahrádka’s authoritative edition of the score, which differs in many details from that used in previous Supraphon recordings. The cast is headed by tenor Jaroslav Březina as Matěj Brouček (‘Matthew Beetle’), a typical narrow-minded, middle-class Prague landlord who manages (from an anglophone perspective) to combine elements of Rupert Rigsby from Rising Damp, Captain Mainwaring of Dad’s Army in his bank manager guise, and (in the second excursion) Sir John Falstaff.

Brouček’s exasperation with his bohemian artist tenant Mazal (ringingly sung by tenor Aleš Briscein) and his lack of interest with anything outside his area of immediate concern is equalled only by his love of beer and sausages. Yet one night, as he leaves the Vikárka tavern in Prague’s castle district, he becomes transfixed by the moon, and while Mazal patches up a tiff with his sweetheart Málinka (the bright, sparkling-toned soprano, Alžběta Poláčková), the landlord is whisked off to the Moon. There he meets a succession of rarefied aesthetes who bear strange resemblances to his Prague acquaintances (the triple-casting is Janáček’s own idea). Here, Brouček’s philistinism bewilders the precious Moonfolk, who exist on nothing but sniffing nectar, and are clear and merciless parodies of the Art-for-Art’s-Sake movement at the turn of the last century.

A ride on the winged horse Pegasus is something that only a visual document can convey, but thanks to Březina’s characterful singing and Kyzlink’s alert, finely-paced conducting, the contrast between the strange lunar world and the more relatable beauties and down-to-earth cheerfulness of Prague are nicely contrasted. The scenes outside the tavern – especially the duet for the lovers at the end of Part 1 – contain some of the most engagingly beautiful music that Janáček ever wrote for the stage, while the music for the Moon scenes is by turns comical and strange, including even a snippet of a Mahlerian waltz. We can sense Brouček’s relief when he returns to Earth, discovered in a barrel by the innkeeper Würfl.

From the outset, the music of Part 2 is again different, with a dark opening that suggests the clash of arms. After we overhear an offstage argument between Brouček and some drinking companions about the supposed existence of secret tunnels underneath the castle, Brouček manages to tumble into just such a tunnel, which turns out to be Wenceslas IV’s secret treasury. As the confused landlord makes his way outside, the Poet (i.e. Svatopluk Čech himself, nobly sung here by baritone Jiří Brückler) recalls the bygone glories of the Czech nation and hopes for a more positive future, reminding us that this part of the opera was composed during the very early years of the Czechoslovak Republic.

To his astonishment, Brouček discovers himself in 15th-century Prague where, with his ‘modern’ clothes and strange way of speaking, he sticks out like a sore thumb. He is befriended and taken in by citizens who again bear unmistakable likeness to his friends back in the future. As fate would have it, he is stuck in the middle of the religious conflicts of the period, which is the cue for some spirited hymn-singing and rousing patriotic songs. For non-Czechs, this part of the opera can have its longueurs, but thanks to the thrillingly immediate singing of the National Theatre Chorus (excellent throughout the opera), this performance is uniquely stirring. In the rather dry doctrinal debate of this Excursion’s third scene, Kyzlink has a way of honing in on important musical details to keep the audience’s interest, a crucial element of this performance’s success.

Mr Brouček, of course, has no intention of taking up arms for the Hussite cause, even though he claims to be a proud patriot. After the musical splendours of the battle scene and resulting Hussite victory, he is branded a coward and condemned to die in a burning barrel. As the flames reach their height, he is again discovered in the present day by Mr Würfl, to whom he recounts his ‘brave’ exploits before asking that he keep it to himself. Just when you’re expecting a throw-away ending, the work actually closes with a vigorous tutti with rasping trombones (and without the spurious trumpets added in earlier editions).

The opera is attractively presented in gatefold packaging, with a lavishly illustrated booklet with pictures from the Prague production, and an extended essay plus detailed synopsis. There’s no libretto, but a QR code which will take you to an online one. Don’t let that or the somewhat resonant acoustic of Prague’s Rudolfinum put you off: although a few minutes longer than Bělohlávek’s DG recording, Kyzlink’s is the more detailed and incisive account, opening up warmly for the lyrical episodes but with a keen sense of momentum in the rest, and an unerring feeling for the work’s wit. Březina is splendid in the title role, not too hammy in this character tenor role, and the rest of the cast are wonderfully idiomatic. In the week of Janáček’s 170th birthday, this is a marvellous contribution to his music’s discography.

Reviews

Orchestrally, Supraphon conductor Jaroslav Kyzlink better projects the opera’s more spontaneous, chaotic moments than the BBC Symphony and finds more meaning in the details. The two casts are evenly matched. DG’s Maria Haan has a vocal lustre that gives her portrayal of Etherea an edge, while Supraphon’s Aleš Briscein (in three roles but particularly Blankytný) has excellent text articulation and a thrilling voice. David Patrick Stearns

Gramophone September 2024

This new studio version, conducted by Jaroslav Kyzlink, sounds cleaner and more muscular, and the orchestra of the Prague National Theatre understands Janáček’s style inside out. Characterful in the title role, Jaroslav Březina heads up an excellent cast... Erica Jeal

The Guardian 5 July 2024

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Janacek - The Excursions of Mr Broucek

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Despatch Information

Contents

Works

Artists

Conductor

Works

Artists

Conductor

About

Sound/Video

Paused

Europadisc Review

Reviews