Julia Werthimer wrote:

>>Can anyone tell me what recordings are available of Janacek's From the
>>House of the Dead? (I don't suppose there are very many).  Can any lister
>>recommend one? ...

And Steve Schwartz replied

>The only one I know of on CD is by Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Phil on
>Supraphon 2941.

Most of the letters have recommended Mackerras, and I agree.  His is
probably the most "authentic" edition of a score that was heavily edited
after Janacek died, and the performance is terrific.  (There was some
debate as to whether Janacek had really finished his score or not.
Mackerras believed he for the most part had, and tried to restore the
original.) Nevertheless, if you or your son come to love this opera from
the Mackerras, the Neumann is worth investigating.  In terms of editions,
it is somewhere between the heavily edited ones and that of Mackerras.  It
think it was Kubelik who first tried to look back to the original, though
he didn't go as fgar as Mackerras, and I think it is Kubelik's edition that
Neumann uses for the most part.

Roger Hecht