The Cunning Little Vixen

Although Leos Janácek's delightful beast opera is already available on DVD in a fine conventional staging conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, this animated film of an abridged version features its own considerable charm. Kent Nagano, who conducts the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in a fleet performance, has whittled the piece down to slightly under an hour: much of the score dealing with the human characters--indeed, a good deal of Act II--is gone, though the forester and poacher retain their major arias and the schoolmaster's drunk scene is retained (a rather odd inclusion in this context). The emphasis is on the vixen's adventures and the forester's musings on the natural circle of life, and these segments are well sung by Christine Buffle and Grant Doyle. Geoff Dunbar's animation, inspired by the newspaper comic that moved the composer to undertake the opera 80 years ago, is quite enchanting. The backgrounds against which the action is set are lovely, and the characters--animal, insect, and human--are all winningly drawn. The DVD, backed by Dolby Digital surround sound or LPCM stereo, includes reminiscences by Dunbar, a multiple-image presentation of the animation process, and an inventive interactive storyboard. Recommended. Aud: H, P. (F. Swietek)