Kovařovic: The Dogheads
Soloists
Prague radio orchestra and choir
František Dyk
Kovařovic is primarily remembered for his connection with Janáček: he conducted the 1916 Prague revival of Jenůfa, which did much to establish Janáček's international reputation. But in doing so he revised and re-orchestrated some of the work and for 60 years or so the opera was almost always heard in Kovařovic's version.
As a composer Kovařovic wrote several operas before his appointment as musical director of the Prague National Opera meant he had no more time to compose large scale works. This opera, about a rebellion against the Hapsburg forces in 1695 was his most popular work and remained on the fringes of the repertoire in the Czech lands for many years.
It is quite an old-fashioned piece for an opera written at the very end of the 19th century. It feels, and sounds, like something from a generation earlier. It has all the apparatus of a French grand opera with lots of blood and thunder and, to be frank, little subtlety. But on its own terms it was enjoyable and clearly shows a composer who understood the theatre and the power of opera to convey emotion and fervour.
I can't imagine that it could ever make any headway outside the Czech lands, and is really now of historical interest only. But that doesn't make it any the less enjoyable as a one-off experience.
