Janácek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek_音乐专辑
Janácek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek
表演者: BBC Singers/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jirí Belohlávek
介质: Audio CD
发行时间: 2008-08-12
唱片数: 2
出版者: Deutsche Grammophon
条形码: 0028947773870
专辑简介
Synopsis
PART 1: The Excursion of Mr. Brou?ek to the Moon
Scene 1: Prague, 1888. The Vikárka street in Hrad?any on a moonlit night
The beer-soaked Matěj Brou?ek tries to find his way home after an evening’s drinking at the Vikárka Inn. He comes across Málinka who is so upset by the two-timing behaviour of her lover Mazal (Brou?ek’s tenant), that she threatens to kill herself. In an attempt to calm her down, Brou?ek says he’ll marry her but then retracts the offer and instead dreams of escaping to a less stressful life on the moon.
Scene 2: A moonscape
The moon turns out to be the worst possible choice for the robustly Philistine Brou?ek: it has become home to the arty intellectuals he so despises, and he finds himself in the company of the avant-garde lunar artist Blankytny (a lunar parallel to Mazal). He describes his platonic passion for Etherea, a lunar maiden. Etherea arrives with her militant sisterhood to sing an ode to a healthy lifestyle. Unlikely as it seems, she falls for the dissipated Mr. Brou?ek, and flies away with him on Pegasus, leaving Blankytny distressed.
Scene 3: The Lunar Temple of All Arts
Etherea arrives with Brou?ek at the Temple of Arts. Initially, his appearance causes terror, but he is soon accepted as the newest craze, and is shown the very latest in lunar art. A meal of sniffing flowers does nothing to improve his mood, and when he is attacked for eating sausages, he flees, leaving the aesthetes – complete with a Child Prodigy – singing hymns to art.
Scene 4: Prague
Mazal and Málinka return home as dawn is breaking. A kitchen boy tells them that Brou?ek has been found in a drunken stupor, but their thoughts are elsewhere as they sing of their tender love for each other.
PART 2: The Excursion of Mr. Brou?ek to the 15th Century
Scene 1: The castle of Wenceslas IV
Brou?ek has been arguing with his drinking cronies about the underground tunnels constructed beneath medieval Prague. He staggers home only to find himself in one of these tunnels, where he encounters shadowy figures from the past. The poet, Svatopluk ?ech, appears. He laments the moral decline of the ?zech nation where heroes have been replaced by greedy non-entities (like Mr. Brou?ek). ?ech sings of how he longs to write anthems for a reborn nation, rather than bitter satires – such as this one.
Scene 2: The Old Town Square, 1420
Brou?ek finds himself in 15th-century Prague, which is under siege from the German armies of the Holy Roman Empire. Because of his dreadful ?zech, Brou?ek is initially taken for a German spy by the Hussite rebels, but he manages to bluff his way out of trouble.
Scene 3: Dom?ík’s house
Brou?ek has been taken to the house of the sacristan, Dom?ík, and his daughter Kunka. The people of Prague sing a stirring hymn in preparation for the conflict that is to come. Brou?ek is horrified when his hosts explain that he is expected to join in the defence of the city. In the heat of battle, he grabs the first opportunity to run away.
Scene 4: The Old Town Square
The people of Prague celebrate a famous victory, but it has come at a price: Dom?ík is among the dead. Brou?ek is discovered in hiding, and is accused of treason. His sentence is death in a beer barrel.
Scene 5: The courtyard of the Vikárka Inn
Back in the 19th century, Würfl, the landlord of the inn, hears groans coming from his cellar. He finds Brou?ek there, inside a barrel. Brou?ek is relieved to be home at last, boasting that he liberated Prague single-handed.
Nigel Simeone
10/2007
曲目
Sel v nasem s?ku - Promena - Ach! Ach! Ach!
