Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s justly acclaimed 1989 Glyndebourne production makes a welcome appearance on DVD‚ the picture a touch grainy but still a dramatic improvement over the videotape‚ the sound still more so. Andrew Davis’s conducting emphasises the score’s lyricism without diminishing its rhythmic vigour and folk resonances‚ and the staging‚ in Czech despite its Anglophone cast‚ is just as idiomatic. If Act 1’s mill looks somewhat cramped on Glyndebourne’s old stage (although extended with a grassy slope)‚ the indoor scenes gain a natural‚ sometimes claustrophobic‚ intimacy‚ well captured in Derek Bailey’s direction. The performers display the same naturalness – notably Roberta Alexander’s heroine‚ sung with a warmth and fervour which exactly captures Jen²fa’s open and loving nature. The camera makes Langridge a rather mature Laca‚ but his sinewy tenor and twisted‚ hungry demeanour render the character’s distorting jealousy and inner decency equally credible and sympathetic. As his spoilt half­brother‚ Baker exploits his bluff appearance and bright heldentenor potential both to radiate charisma and reveal the hollowness beneath. Lehnhoff and Silja play the Kostelni¶ka as the traditional black­clad puritan – here some sort of district nurse – rather than the less sophisticated old peddler woman‚ pious and desperate‚ whom Janá¶ek drew from the original play. But her steely tones and incisive diction movingly illuminate the fiercely proud and loving nature‚ warped (as a restored solo reveals) by marital abuse‚ which makes her so fanatically protective of Jen²fa; her murderous Act 2 soliloquy and conscience­stricken terror are harrowing. Davies’ Grandmother and Scottish Opera stalwarts Sandison and Ormiston head a fine supporting cast. ArtHaus Musik’s characteristically sloppy notes make nonsense of the plot relationships; leave biographies‚ as usual with Anglo­Saxon singers‚ a decade out of date; and‚ mentioning only the ‘latest’ Mackerras­Tyrell score‚ fail to make clear that this is effectively Janá¶ek’s 1904­08 original rather than Kova·ovic’s 1916 re­orchestration.