Search - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Donald Runnicles, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra :: Korngold: Die tote Stadt

A strong live performance is let down by the central role

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/13/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For decades the only reliable recording of Korngold's swooningly gorgeous Die Tote Stadt has been the one under Erich Leinsdorf on RCA. It boasts a good cast, but Leinsdorf's conducting is stiff and without the ravishing touch that sends Korngold's lush music into orbit. Lately there was a budget Naxos issue that came from a decent live performance in Sweden, but it was hardly on a high plane of accomplishment. Which leaves room for a Tote Stadt that gets everything right.



This one almost does. It derives from another live performance, this time from the Salzburg Festival in 2004. No rival ensemble can match the Vienna Phil. as a pit orchestra, and their playing is resplendent, even though Donald Runnicles at times remains too chaste with this orgiastic score (it's meant to sound like Parsifal for sex addicts). The sonics are good broadcast stereo taken directly from festival master tapes. The important baritone role of Frnak is superbly sung by Bo Skovhus, leaving us to consider the two leads, Marietta and Paul. In the RCA set neither was sung very beautifully--in fact, Rene Kollo's dry, white tone as Paul is positively irritating, despite his musicality.



Here we get a fervent, if not exactly stunning Marietta from rising German soprano Angela Denoke; she's a bit too throaty, and the voice doesn't suggest seduction. But the real disappointment is the underpowered Paul of tenor Torsten Kerl. The booklet is full of photos from a daring, decadent stage production that no doubt excited the audience, but purely as a vocalist, Kerl is thin and gargly, with unsteady notes and not much ability to carry Paul's overblown emotions. One feels sympathy--this is a murderous role by any measure. But Kerl's shortcomings sink the recording for me, sad to say. I will keep longing for an ideal Tote Stadt; in the meantime, neither this nor the RCA set really does the work full justice."