Stars: Angela Denoke, David Kuebler, Jane Henschel, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovakian Philharmonic Choir

Director: Christopher Marthaler

Summary: Leos Janacek's opera 'Kata Kabanova' which follows the life of a middle-class family and is set on the banks of the Volga in a small town, Kalinove. Recorded at the Kleines Festspielhaus during the 1998 Salzburg Festival.

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With its overt love interest and focus on individual isolation, Katia Kabanovais the first of the four operas that crowned the productive last decade of Leos Janacek (1854-1928). The operatic idioms of Dvorak and Verdi are transmuted through his singular soundworld, whose vocal lines convey subtle speech inflexions and whose orchestral writing has a keen pathos and surging emotional intensity.

Christoph Marthaler's production for the 1998 Salzburg Festival updates the provincial Russia of the 1850s to that of the 1990s, a decaying tenement block whose inhabitants live out a futile existence. It neither enhances nor undermines the music, in which Angela Denoke's wan Katia gradually gains in conviction, culminating in a touching "mad scene" and ill-fated reconciliation with her lover Boris. David Kuebler is powerful in this role, while Jane Henschel is characterful but lightweight as Kabanicha (mother-in-law) and Hubert Delamboye sympathetic as Katia's put-upon husband Tichon. Sylvain Cambreling, an experienced opera conductor, directs the Czech Philharmonic skilfully and with flair.

On the DVD:Katia Kabanovaarrives on disc with a 16:9 aspect ratio that captures the many oblique camera angles and perspective shifts; and sound in LPCM Stereo, Dolby 5.1 and DTS options. Subtitles are in five European languages, and there are 29 access points. There are no special features, apart from the regular TDK trailer, but the booklet has a useful, if generalised synopsis of the opera.--Richard Whitehouse

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 0
Subtitles:	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Year:	1998
Release Date:	July 1, 2002
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	D V O P K K
Keywords:	Music, Opera, Wide, Screen, Works, Stage, Janacek, Kabanova, Classical, Performing, Katia, Operetta, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts