This has been available in the USA for years‚ so it’s good to have it available in the UK at last – especially as ArtHaus’s mastering is even finer. Mackerras conducts with all the vibrancy of his landmark CD recording (Decca‚ 11/86)‚ plus the immediacy of live performance‚ and if the Orchestre de Paris has leaner strings and less secure brass than the VPO‚ it still responds well. Hytner’s production was an instant hit‚ with good reason. It often recalls David Pountney’s classic Scottish Opera staging‚ popular with other regional companies; it isn’t quite as atmospheric or satirical‚ but it has equal verve. The forest scenes rely heavily on dance‚ as Janá¶ek’s notes suggest‚ so the set is a ballet­style level stage with hanging flats; but within those constraints it comes alive with clever imagery – seeing the inn through a wine­flask is a masterstroke – and gaudy colour‚ setting the mollocking forest creatures apart from drab humanity with eye­wateringly vivid costumes. Eva Jenis is a vivacious‚ characterful Vixen‚ though not as creamy as Popp on the CD or as winning as our native vulpines such as mesdames Field‚ Garrett‚ and Watson. Janá¶ek’s vocal casting is not consistently observed; Hana Minutillo makes a fine contralto Fox‚ but there is a case for giving the role to a male voice‚ as the Dog is here. Richard Novák and Josef Hajna‚ in the important animal/human roles‚ and Ivan Kusnjer’s roughneck Poacher‚ provide firmly idiomatic support‚ but Allen’s grizzled Forester remains the lynchpin. If his voice is slightly less rich than when he first sang the role at Glyndebourne in the 1970s‚ its expression has deepened‚ and he sounds quite at ease in Czech. His final paean to the renewing force of Nature‚ with Mackerras in full lyrical flow‚ is magical‚ confirming a strong recommendation.