The Czech author Karel Capek is probably best known for his plays: high-concept speculative dramas such as R.U.R. and The Insect Play, bristling with wit and ideas. But he paid his bills as a newspaper columnist, and he seems to have been pleasantly surprised when Janacek approached him about turning his ‘conversational, fairly unpoetical and over-garrulous play’ (Capek’s words) The Makropulos Affair into an opera. Capek licensed Janacek to adapt it as the composer saw fit, in words that have the authentic ring of the working journalist – ‘because I simply wouldn’t get round to revising it myself’.

No fear on that count. The Makropulos Affair is a brisk, nervy play but Janacek, at 69 (there’s hope for us all), was an old theatrical hand. He understood precisely what could be conveyed by the action on stage, and carved out space for music to carry the rest. So how to approach a concert version – in this case, Simon Rattle’s two performances last week with the London Symphony Orchestra? Many opera buffs claim to prefer concert performances, and if your most recent Makropulos Affair was Katie Mitchell’s self-indulgent, agenda-driven car crash at Covent Garden last November, it’s tempting to sympathise.

But........

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