Glyndebourne,East Sussex
Elena Tsallagova is magnetic as a vivacious Vixen Sharp-Ears in this sumptuous revival of Melly Still’s tenderly cartoonish productionThe Cunning Little Vixen ought to work better at Glyndebourne than almost anywhere else. Perhaps in the long interval the audience should be encouraged to leave their picnics and the manicured gardens and trespass on the surrounding countryside, listening for woodpeckers, or gazing at dragonflies,batting absent mosquitoes and sniffing the air for the scent of fox piss. An earthy, unsentimental sense of connection between the human and animal worlds is something Janáček sought with this 1923 opera, and this revival of Melly Stills production achieves it better than most.
First seen in 2012,the staging has returned with a unique cast and conductor and with a few tweaks, including repositioning the long interval between the moment and third acts – more sensible than breaking the moment act in half, or besides,it gives the Vixen and Fox time to make all those cubs. The conductor is Jakub Hrůša, and under his direction the London Philharmonic make this quicksilver score sound sumptuous, and at times almost Straussian,and pulsing with life.
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Source: theguardian.com