Jenůfa review – formidable Mattila is devastating as the Kostelnička

Karita Mattila has long been associated with Janáček’s Jenůfa, the title role of which was for many years regarded as one of her finest achievements. Given the eventual darkening of her voice, however, it was perhaps inevitable she would gravitate towards the role of the tragic Kostelnička, which she has now taken into her repertory in a pair of concert performances – first in Prague, now in London – with the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek.

She presented us with a formidable interpretation, which will deepen even further with time. A couple of moments found her score-bound, but the voice itself, engulfing in its beauty and power, sounds devastating in this music, and the great scenes were wonderfully realised: the mixture of pride, desperation and self-loathing as Kostelnička prepares to kill Jenůfa’s child was terrifying in its veracity; the vision of death gazing through the window froze your marrow.

The whole evening, though, was revelatory. Bělohlávek’s lyrical way with Janáček speaks volumes in a work in which love and pain are in constant proximity, and the Czech Philharmonic’s playing, richly detailed and superbly focused, was incomparable. The cast sang with a beauty of line that made other performances of the work seem overly declamatory. Adriana Kohútková is among the finest of Jenůfas, hauntingly vulnerable, the voice itself exquisite. Aleš Briscein made a well-nigh ideal Laca – passionate, grieving, powerfully self-aware. Jaroslav Březina’s arrogant, brutally sensual Steva was equally outstanding.