Sir Simon Rattle Leads New Live Recording of Janáček’s ‘Cunning Little Vixen’ & ‘Sinfonietta’

By Chris Ruel

The London Symphony Orchestra announced the pre-sale of a new live recording of Janáček’s “Cunning Little Vixen” & “Sinfonietta.” Orders will be accepted starting on August 7.

The album is set to release on September 4 and features the LSO’s Music Director Sir Simon Rattle on the podium conducting the Peter Sellars semi-staged production. Lucy Crowe stars as the Vixen, Gerald Finley as the Forester, and Sophia Burgos Fox/Chocholka.

The works, according to a statement by Rattle in the LSO press release, have deep personal meaning for the maestro.

“‘It’s the piece that made me want to become an opera conductor… and still one of the pieces that reduces me to tears more easily than any other,” Rattle said.

Rattle and Sellars previous collaboration of the LSO Live label produced an award-winning recording of  Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande,” released in October 2017 and won awards from Opus Klassik (Opera Recording, 20th/21st Century) and Record Geijutsu (Best Opera Recording). The opera’s four-star review in The Telegraph, as cited in the press release, praised the performance, saying, that it featured – “a dream cast awakens the opera that changed Simon Rattle’s life.”

Janáček’s “Sinfonietta” pays homage to the composer’s hometown of Brno in the now Czech Republic. The piece opens with towering fanfares as it unfolds in a celebration of Slavic culture.

“The Cunning Little Vixen” & “Sinfonietta,” when released worldwide September 4, will be available for streaming, download, and on CD (Hybrid SACD).

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