Janacek and ENO have long enjoyed a close and fruitful relationship — in fact, since Katya Kabanova was performed at Sadler’s Wells in 1951, the first of the Czech composer’s operas to be staged in Britain. That relationship has blossomed further with the current Janácek cycle, David Alden following up his searing Jenufa of 2006 with an equally shattering Katya Kabanova.

Katya Kabanova is a dramatisation of the anguish of illicit, impossible love. Katya, married to the doltish drunkard Tichon, is all too aware that her infatuation with Boris can lead only to disaster. Having given in to temptation while her husband is away, she sees no alternative, upon his return, to ending her miserable existence.

Alden focuses unsparingly on Katya’s conscience, her sense of sin. Glaring beams of light are counterpointed by deep shadows (lighting: Adam Silverman), just as a religious icon on the wall is contrasted with a cartoonish poster of the devil.

This Manichaean view of the world is that of the small-minded village community, represented at its most formidable by Kabanicha (Tichon’s mother). Aided by Jon Morrell’s splendidly outré costumes, Alden establishes the mindset in the opening act with broad-brush, comic touches.

Hypocrisy is suggested by a chic outfit and a Pekinese, while the garb of the uncouth Dikoy (Clive Bayley hawking enthusiastically) is as shaggy as his manners. Susan Bickley’s Kabanicha, a ramrod pillar in unmitigated black, wears a hat with a vicious-looking point, concealing what turns out to be an equally fearsome hairpiece.
John Graham-Hall’s neurotic Tichon is superb, as is Stuart Skelton’s more suave Boris. Patricia Racette’s Katya may not be the most radiant of tone but the edgy vocal quality emphasises the intensity of her inner torment.

The assignations of the second act take place not under cover of darkness but on a bare stage bathed in light — there’s no hiding place for Katya’s conscience.

Mark Wigglesworth unfolds the aching rapture of the score with consummate authority. In their final meeting, Boris and Katya reel perilously along the bank of the Volga (into which Racette is to hurl herself) and a sense of being on the brink is miraculously conveyed too in Wigglesworth’s reading. His conducting and Alden’s direction make for a powerful conjunction of drama and music, constantly engaging the emotions, frequently lacerating. 
Until 27 March. Information: 0871 911 0200; www.eno.org