Lyric fairy tale in three acts: Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil after Friedrich Heinrich Carl de la Motte Fouque's tale Undine. Dvorak's opera Rusalka reaches extraordinary heights of
melodic eloquence. Rusalka is also the most consciously 'through-composed' of Dvorak's operas but this does
not prevent Czech opera's most famous aria the ineffably beautiful 'Song to the Moon', being frequently extracted from the score and sung as a stand alone aria. Sometimes
thought of as a 'one aria opera', this is just one of many glorious arias for Rusalka, among them the moving first act plea, 'Your ancient wisdom everyone knows' ('Staleta
moudrost tva vsechno vi'), made to the witch Jezibaba asking her to make her human, and her desolate lament
'Robbed of my youth' ('Mladosti sve pozbavena') at the start of Act 3. Rusalka is by no means a mainstay in the operatic oeuvre but this new 2009 production and recording from
Glyndebourne is destined to put this much overlooked masterpiece to the forefront of romantic repertory.
The recording is aided by a stellar cast. Ana María Martínez's astonishing humanity shines through in her heart rending portrayal of Rusalka, burly tenor Brandon Jovanovich is
a handsome Prince, with real Slavic flavour added with Mischa Schelomianski as Rusalka's wise old father Vodnik, and Larissa Diadkova as the evil witch Jezíbaba, both
giving exemplary performances, with Czech conductor Jirí Belohlávek and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, giving the music a wonderful emotional intensity at all the right moments.