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This highly original project was a happy by-product of the COVID pandemic lockdown, when the use of large orchestras was restricted. Fabrice Bollon, who enjoys a significant presence in the Naxos catalogue both as composer and conductor, devised a version of Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen using an accompaniment of just twelve instruments in new combinations of sounds that might well have been used by Janáček himself. The other two works on the programme are Šarka (a compression of Janáček’s opera into an instrumental duo) and Twelve Lilies for Leoš, Bollon's chamber concerto in three movements that uses the same instrumentation as The Cunning Little Vixen arrangement and alludes to other works by Janáček.
![JANÁČEK, L.: Cunning Little Vixen (The) (chamber version, arr. Bollon) [Opera]](../../../sharedfiles/images/cds/hires/8.660526-27.jpg "JANÁČEK, L.: Cunning Little Vixen (The) (chamber version, arr. Bollon) [Opera]")
Muriel Cantoreggi, Violin 2, 3 Dina Fortuna-Bollon, Cello 2, 3
Cantus Juvenum Karlsruhe 1 • Members of the Opernchor des Theater Freiburg 1
The Lily’s Project 1, 3 • Fabrice Bollon 1, 3
Fabrice Bollon’s Janáček project was developed during the COVID lockdown when the use of large orchestras was forbidden. Bollon wrote a version of The Cunning Little Vixen for twelve instruments – not a reduction but an imaginative recreation employing new combinations of sounds, without brass. Janáček’s vital, highly personal orchestration inspired Bollon, in his version, to make the opera more accessible and open to a wider audience. He has also compressed Šárka into a duo and written Twelve Lilies for Leoš, a colourfully scored tribute employing reminiscences from Janáček’s works.
Ach! (Vixen, Badger, Forest Creatures)
III. Osud Fantasy
Conductor/composer Fabrice Bollon served as general music director and chief conductor at Germany’s Theater Freiburg from 2009 to 2021, overseeing numerous recordings for Naxos that included a critically acclaimed performance of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane. He has been chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Halle and general music director of the Halle Opera since August 2022. In 2020 his Naxos album comprising original compositions received a Choc de Classica award and an ICMA nomination.
violin
cello
Die Ungebornen Enkel
(‘The Unborn Grandchildren’)
The Secret Garden of the Cordania
Park • Thammathi • Moser
– BBC Music Magazine ★★★★
Das Wunder der Heliane
Kremer • Argiris • Storey • Hebelková • Van Hove • Thammathi • Hanczár
Choirs of the Theater Freiburg • Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg • Bollon
– The Light Music Society
Hulda
(Opera in 5 Acts)
Miller • Kohl • Park • Jung • Hebelková • Seok Lee • Yang • Gionfriddo • Lee • Koo • Carpenter • Schäfer • Cecconi
Choirs of the Theater Freiburg • Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg • Bollon
– American Record Guide
Orchestral Works
Ouverture • Chant funèbre • Hymne à la justice • Hymne à Vénus • Suite d’orchestre dans le style ancien
Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg • Bollon
– Pizzicato ★★★★