Stéphane Braunschweig’s production dates back to 1996, when it played host to a memorable series of performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with the extraordinary Kostelni∂ka of Anja Silja and Simon Rattle as conductor. The production has been on its travels since then, but seems not to have been filmed until it arrived at the Teatro Real in Madrid two years ago.

Braunschweig gives us Jenyfa stark and simple, the stage almost bare, the opera’s emotions stripped to the bone. Realism has given way to a few, sparing symbolic gestures, such as the sails of the windmill which rise up through the floor at the start (though not the end) of the performance. The only object on stage throughout the second act is the baby’s cot, placed at the apex of a triangle of walls which gives the effect of it being in a constant close-up.

Nothing is allowed to deflect concentration from the central human drama. Amanda Roocroft has won laurels as Jenyfa in various stage productions and comes across as a deeply sincere performer here, even if the voice is apt to turn shrill at the top. As Kostelni∂ka, Deborah Polaski plays a formal, reserved, very respectable woman who exudes authority in the community, and her very understatement is moving in its own way. Miroslav Dvorsky sings strongly as Laca, though without much individuality (think what Jon Vickers and Philip Langridge used to make of the role), and Nikolai Schukoff proves the more intriguing brother as vacillating Števa. As Grandmother Buryja, Mette Ejsing is rather on the young side.

The singers need a lot of intensity from the pit to sustain them, more, in fact, than Ivor Bolton’s controlled performance with its brightly etched rhythms allows. Although Glyndebourne’s rival DVD from 1989 (ArtHaus Musik, 11/01) may be showing its age a little, it offers a richer experience: the more realistic pictures of Moravian country life may not be a huge gain but the unbuttoned playing of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Davis certainly is. This is also where Silja’s Kostelni∂ka and Langridge’s Laca are to be found and the higher emotional level of the performance makes Glyndebourne the recommended choice.