Jiri Belohlavek - Antonin Dvorak: Rusalka (2010)

Glyndebourne has wisely preserved the best of Melly Still's literal,cluttered and ugly 2009 staging;its world-class soundtrack;.Dvorak's operatic masterpiece is in Belohlavek's bones, and he gets a thrilling and luminous account of the ravishing score from the LPO on virtually flawless form.It is the most central European of london's symphonic bands, and certainly equals,if not surpasses, the idiomatic Czech Philharmonic on rival sets conducted by Vaclav Neumann(supraphon) and Charles Mackerras(Decca).Ana Maria Martinez's Rusalka-more warm -blooded than Gabriela Benackova ,less self-indulgent then Renee Fleming-gives one of the most ecstatic acounts of the famous Song to the Moon on disc.She is well partnered by Brandon Jovanovich's Prince,perhaps not quite as ringing as Wieslaw Ochman or Ben Heppner, but displaying a verile young tenor of limitless potential,especially moving in his yearning Liebestod.The great Russian mezzo Larissa Diadkova relishes Jezibaba's witchy incantations,capturing both the comic and terrifying facets of the character,while the sopano Tatiana Pavolvskaya glitters heartlessly as the vampish Foreign Princess. Mischa Schelomianski's Vodnik(Rusalka's father, a water goblin who lusts after three nixies,like Alberich in Das Rheingold)utters his gloom-and-doomy imprecations from the depths of his gravelly bass.All of the small parts are brilliantly taken in the best issue from the Glyndebourne archives to date. an unmissable Classic. CD of the week --The Times, 12/06/10