Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra bring Janáček’s rarely staged operatic diptych to life in this live Barbican recording — a work that took him nearly a decade and seven librettists to complete. Mr Brouček, a beer-and-sausage-loving Prague landlord, is swept from his own century first to a satirical lunar utopia of preening aesthetes, then to the heroic Hussite Prague of the 15th century. Peter Hoare leads a cast including Aleš Briscein, Lucy Crowe, and Gyula Orendt, with Tenebrae under Nigel Short joining the LSO for a score Janáček packed with comic invention, orchestral colour, and — in its “15th Century” excursion — a surge of national pride tied to Czech independence.

Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
Peter Hoare – tenor
Aleš Briscein – tenor
Lucy Crowe – soprano
Gyula Orendt – baritone
Lukáš Zeman – baritone
Doubravka Novotná – soprano
Hannah Hipp – mezzo-soprano
Arttu Kataja – baritone
Stephan Rügamer – tenor
Linard Vrielink – tenor
Tenebrae, Nigel Short – chorus director