Search - Richard [1] Strauss, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Der Rosenkavalier [Highlights]

A Lovely Version with Less To Complain About....

Edward R. Oneill | San Francisco, CA | 12/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"
I don't see what all the complaints are about.



This is one of my favorite Rosenkavaliers.



True, I prefer the Crespin recording with Solti above all the rest. And a close second is Szell's sublime live 1949 recording with Reining--sounding fresher than she later does in the studio for Kleiber (although Sena Jurinac is never anyone to sneeze at). But this is a respectable third place for me--in a very crowded field.



The sound of this Gala release is not as bad as some on this site complain. I have an equalizer in my mp3 software =--it's free in Winamp--and that adjusts quite nicely for the somewhat muffled quality of this 1978 live recording. There are clearer sounding live recordings, even some made 30 or more years earlier! But there's less sound of stage business than in most live recordings.



Von Dohnanyi has a mostly lyrical approach to the music. He doesn't emphasize the dissonance the way von Karajan does--yet he is not overly sentimental as Karajan also is. Von Dohnanyi plays more with the tempi: he's not as rhythmically propulsive as Szell. But he keeps things moving well enough. And the dynamics are lovely and appropriate--to my ears, anyway.



If you ask me, Janowitz is a bit off her game here--most at the outset. It's like she's warming up a bit. And I hear the bad note that Popp sings towards the end. There are two actually. The first is harsh but not atrocious. I've heard worse in other recordings of this same opera. The second is just the wrong pitch, and it also seems like a problem of vocal control, too.



But hey, ladies and gentlemen, it's live on stage, and things happen up there.



Isn't it kind of sublimely human?



--E. R. O'Neill"

OK, but...

Scott Robinson | New York, NY USA | 08/30/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Just a quick review from me. This recording is seriously marred by the bad audio quality. It is indeed stereo but any sense of high frequencies is completely missing. It has an extremely muffled texture. It is exhausting to listen to because one has to struggle to hear the individual musical lines. I have both the highlight cd and the complete version.I love Gundula Janowitz but she never recorded Rosenkavalier comercially. This version has too big bloopers by Janowitz in the last act. It sounds so atrocious it turns out to be hysterically funny. The CD might be worth it for that alone.If you want Janowitz then check out the newly issued live version recorded 9 years earlier on Opera D'oro. She is in much better voice, the sound is better and the conducting is more exciting."

Superb version! Superb Janowitz! But...

Ha-De Nguyen | Paris, France (Europe) | 10/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, this version is very worth buying and loving as previously described! But first of all wait for the complete issue already available in Europe under "Gala" label in 3 cds. The sound in there is spacious (not at all ugly as earlier said) and in true stereo!
Then Janowitz is wonderful as the Marschallin although I'm personally not 100% fan of her voice in opera, always lacking some warmth. But I must recognize she's astonishing here.
Minton is ardent but not as much as Fassbaender. However she does not encounter any problem with the part even in the high tessura. Popp is much better recording than in the set of Myto from The Scala with Kleiber Jr. conducting. The voice is full of pure silver. If only she did not miss her very last up note at the very end sounding really too low!!
Moll as Ochs has the voice of the role but he doesn't know it perfectly yet. Obviously he would be fantastic a few years later (and he will with Karayan or Kleiber again).
Counter-parts are interesting indeed with Pavarotti, Gutstein but not memorable though.
A recording not to miss in any case, one of the first three of that opera (along with Kleiber/Myto and Kraus/Melodram hard to find but with Reining in full voice, della Casa admirable, Gueden perfect as Sophie and Boehme exciting as Ochs)."