Having listened repeatedly to all three of the OD recordings of Jenufa starring Pauline Tinsley (in a great joint WNO/Scottish Opera production by David Pountney), I consider this Glasgow performance the greatest of the three - with the best sound. This is where Tinsley’s always overwhelming rendition of the role of the Kostelnicka comes across most powerfully. She is well matched by Wendy Fine’s lyrical, incisive and moving Jenufa, and Alan Cathcart’s ardent, expressive and stalwart Laca (he was concurrently singing Walter von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger!). Unfortunately, Gregory Dempsey’s incisive singing as Steva was relatively unattractive (better suited to Mime). It never seemed very plausible that Jenufa would have been drawn to him! Alexander Gibson conducted Janacek much less often than Wagner, Richard Strauss or Sibelius (and much less so than Richard Armstrong and Charles Mackerras), yet he proved to be just as outstanding at conducting Jenufa. (I attended his 1977 Edinburgh performance, besides later Cardiff and Swansea revivals of this great production). Much as I also love Jenufa sung in Czech, these English-language performances have made Jenufa the most heart-wrenching opera that I have regularly attended and listened to over the past fifty years. This great performance under Gibson remains even more vivid and engaging than the rival English-language recordings of this opera on OD conducted by Mackerras, Armstrong and Kubelik.

Terrific performance. I remember seeing this cast. Pauline Tinsley as the Kostelnicka is wonderful and the rest of the cast are not far behind in intensity. A brisk and tightly-controlled performance from the conductor. Thrilling stuff!