Smetana: The Bartered Bride (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Belohlavek)

Even if Jiří Bělohlávek's time with the BBC Symphony Orchestra will be remembered with modified rapture, there can be no doubt of his fervour for the Czech repertoire. Patriotic totems and operatic rarities have peppered the orchestra's Barbican seasons and, with BBC Radio 3 on demand for new content, many of those concerts have since appeared on disc. Now, just as Bělohlávek departs, Harmonia Mundi has released a winning new recording of The Bartered Bride (taken from concert performances in May 2011).

The Bartered Bride is, on the surface, a zinging piece of nationalistic fun and Bělohlávek invests the score with real attack and bounce. Amassing an entirely Czech cast, both the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers nevertheless rise to the idiomatic challenges. Offering lustre and bloom to Mařenka and Jenik tale or real zip when required to be the village dance band, the BBCSO and Bělohlávek carve a dynamic reading.

This recording may have strong competition from the old Supraphon set (with the radiant Gabriela Beňačková), yet similarly indigenous casting offers a welcome note of authenticity. The comic roles shine in particular. Ales Voráček balances poignancy and farce as Vasek, while Jozef Benci's Kecal is the quintessence of local government pomposity.

For his lovers, Bělohlávek has plumped for more strident voices. Tomás Juhás is winningly heroic as Jenik, with thrilling clarity at the top. Dana Buresová is similarly bright in the upper reaches as Mařenka, yet there's an oddly persistent quality to the voice in more conversational passages. She phrases beautifully, but cannot quite erase memories of Beňačková or Susan Gritton's touching turn on Mackerras's 'Opera in English' release. So, while you may miss a little bit of that emotional punch, this remains a very fresh and captivating performance. It only serves to remind us that, without Mackerras and Bělohlávek, Czech music now lacks a true advocate on these shores.

After Ma Vlast I imagine that for a lot of people their knowledge of the music of Smetana is restricted to the Overture of The Bartered Bride, which is a real shame, as his music has a lot to offer the listener. The opera itself is a light hearted masterpiece of Czech nationalism which became popular in this country in the 1970's and 80's, and has enjoyed many a fine recording since then, not least Zdenek Kosler's fine recording for the Czech label Supraphon.
The present set offers a very fine cast of Czech soloists ably backed up by some wonderful singing by the BBC Singers, their diction and intonation is superb, it is hard to believe it is not a Czech choir. All the soloists are in fine voice, indeed it is hard to single anyone out as all the singers deserve praise especially in the more comic sections of the opera. The orchestral playing of the BBC Symphony is excellent, Bĕlohávek has them giving a performance of real energy and excitement, listening to this recording compared to the Kosler, I was surprised to find that the new recording is less than a minute quicker overall than the older recording, it sounds much quicker!
This is an excellent recording, one which will give hours of enjoyment. If there is one drawback with the recording and it is only a little one, it is that there is no room in the slim line packaging to include the original Check libretto, although it is available online, although side by side would have been better! Despite this minor gripe this recording is warmly recommended and would grace any collection of the Czech master's music.

Exceptional recording from performances at the Barbican in May 2011. As previous positive review. Unfortunately HMF's presentation is less good than the previous Belohlavek/BBCSO recording of Janacek's Mr Broucek on DG - this time no Czech libretto, only English and French translations. Fortunately a pdf libretto for the Bartered Bride is available on the Supraphon website.