This is a review of a new live recording of Leoš Janáček's opera The Excursions of Mr Brouček, performed by tenor Peter Hoare, the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Simon Rattle on the LSO Live label. The reviewer finds the recording exceptional, praising Rattle's ability to bring clarity and vitality to a comic opera that is notoriously difficult to follow on disc, arguing it now gives listeners the best opportunity yet to appreciate Janáček's wit and inventive storytelling.

Based on satirical stories by Svatopluk Čech, the opera follows Mr Brouček, a boorish, beer-and-sausage-loving landlord, on two fantastical escapades: an imagined trip to the moon where he mocks its pretentious artistic inhabitants, and a journey into the 15th-century Hussite wars where his cowardice is exposed. The review singles out Peter Hoare's vivid lead performance, alongside Aleš Briscein as a painter and preening moon poet, and Lucy Crowe as a radiant lunar goddess, with the LSO praised for playing with great energy and the recording noted for its excellent balance.