Recorded live at the 1998 Salzburg Festival‚ this DVD of Káùta Kabanová‚ with credits in French‚ offers a starkly updated production by Christoph Marthaler. The set by Anna Viebrock places the whole opera in a courtyard surrounded by apartment blocks. Such an urban setting‚ closely shut in‚ may capture an appropriate feeling of claustrophobia‚ and the visual brutality chimes to a degree with the abrasiveness of the score; but‚ totally unatmospheric‚ it flies in the face of Ostrovsky’s story in more than the period. So instead of throwing herself in the Volga at the end‚ Káùta curls up among the tiny fountains dotted about a central flower­bed‚ and instead of gazing in awe at the Volga in the opening scene Kudrjás is simply looking at a small painting. The stiffly stylised acting adds to the feeling of alienation‚ but musically the performance with the Czech Philharmonic and a Slovakian choir under Sylvain Cambreling is first­rate. The whole opera is presented without intervals‚ adding to its concentration‚ with the title role most movingly taken by Angela Denoke‚ singing with radiant‚ creamy tone. Among the others‚ Jane Henschel stands out‚ characterful as the Kabanicha‚ looking less menacing than she might‚ with David Kuebler excellent as Káùta’s lover‚ Boris.