Although I have not seen the SF "Vixen", I have been carefully reading your descriptions and comments (Janos Gereben's initial review helped a lot) and I found I often agreed with Jeff Dunn who, amongst other things, wrote: >To stick the Forester, the Janacek surrogate, in a pub for the duration >of the opera denies a major aspect of Janacek's personality epitomized >by this more than any of his operas, the wonder and restorative powers >of nature. The wondrous Mackerras version (1995), recorded in Czech at the Chatelet in Paris with the Chatelet Chorus and the Orchestre de Paris (and encoded on DVD for all regions), might enchant you as much as it did me. Eva Jenis sings the Vixen, Thomas Allen, again the Forester, and Hana Minutillo, the Fox. The ingenious sets and costumes, which seem true to Janacek's aspirations, are by Bob Crowley and it is staged by Nichola Hayter. The French choreographer Jean-Claude Galotta provides a necessary stylized touch... Janacek was born exactly one hundred and fifty years ago on the third of July 1854 and watching this particular opera seems a fitting celebration. 'Celebrating' since Saturday the third, I have also listened to his two vibrant string quartets, as always intense and alive, then, still penetrated by the sense of loss, the sadness and rebellion of his piano Sonata 1.X.1905, I turned to his exuberant Sinfonietta, militarily, but so poetically and humanely full of colour and light. Hesitant, yet airy and flowing, with touches of turmoil and passion, Pohadka held me in its spell before the strong waves of the extraordinary Glagolitic Mass engulfed me. And once more, I could but admire the genius and profound sense of humanity of a musician who can pour life into the 'impossible' tale, operawise, which became "The House of the Dead"... Before that, a violin sang me some of the themes which belonged first of all to the "Wandering of a Little Soul", concerto judiciously reconstructed by Faltus and Stedron. Of course I did not forget the noble, fiery, ferocious "Taras Bulba" or the Capriccio or... so much more! As you can see, the admiration and tenderness I feel for Janacek has no bounds but the strong attraction his music holds for me personally does not alter the fact that Janacek, after Dvorak and Smetana and before Martinu, breathed strong life into music essentially Czech, enriching the very notion and enriching the musical world. Yes, well... it's fine music... Isn't it? Christine Labroche