Serendipity.    Yesterday, I spent ages trying to recall the name of the singer who played the Vixen in the WNO production which I saw at The Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, in the 80's.     I could clearly see her face but could not recall her name.   However, in my Saturday sort-out of videos, I came across an off-air recording of Tippett's "New Year", conducted by Andrew Davis/LPO and decided to check it for quality before transferring it to DVD.    And there she was!    Helen Field as Jo Ann who has a magnetic  stage presence of stillness which reminded me of Peter Pears.   Ron/opilec have I got the right name for the WNO production?  And whatever happened to this artist?

The plot thickens.   Lower in my Pandora's box of off-airs, I found a further video of the "Vixen" from Covent Garden, 25 Dec 1990, with Simon Rattle conducting.  Tom Allen again as the Forester, Lilian Watson, Robt Tear, Diana Montague and Gywnne Howell - the same cast as on the subsequent EMI CD recording.   This, in addition to the Chatelet, Paris off-air from 1997 which I can now pair on DVD.     

What a pleasure to watch Julian Pettifer's intro, in a farmyard, to the ROH production.   The theme of birth, death and seasonal renewal with the acceptance of death as a regeneration.   Pettifer spoke eloquently about David Garnett's 'Lady Into Fox'  & 'The Man in the Zoo' which was written at the same time as Janacek was composing "Vixen".    A welcome change from a po-faced presenter, sitting in a grand circle box at Covent Garden.  As the curtain rose, we'd already be taken into the action.

  I think he's got it.     By George, he's got it!     

  Thanks, too, for a reminder of the ENO "Midsummer Marriage" and the radiant Helen.    Again, it's the quality of 'that little something extra' as defined by Ellen Terry.