Barbican, London
Smetana's great comedy about the marriage market is hard to beat if done properly. The score's inventiveness never ceases to astonish, but it is also remarkably easy to misjudge its tone. Underplay its dark implications, and the opera can seem flippant. Overdo its sombre side, however, and things feel incongruous and strained. It was consequently a treat to hear a performance that got the tricky balance absolutely right.
That it did so was largely due to its authenticity. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers were conducted by Jiří Belohlávek, and the soloists, down to the bit parts, were all Czech or Slovak – singers who, quite simply, have the work in their systems in ways western European performers rarely do.
This is not to say there were no flaws. It was a while before Tomáš Juhás's Jeník found the requisite sweetness of tone and suavity of phrasing. Jozef Benci's shaggy-bearded Kecal similarly got off to a tentative start, only settling when he realised just how much the audience was warming to him. The BBC Singers, meanwhile, sang as if their lives depended on it, but just occasionally sounded too few in number.
On the plus side, however, was Dana Burešová's tremendous Marenka, all blazing tone and fiery top notes, and a truly great Vašek from Aleš Voráček, wide-eyed and infinitely touching, the stammer beautifully done, without exaggeration or caricature. Few conduct Smetana as well as Belohlávek, meanwhile, and his understanding of the score's dexterity and wit, as well as those poignant shafts of sadness, was exceptional.