Search - Richard Strauss, Robert Heger, George Szell, Choir of the Vienna State Opera :: Richard Strauss: "Der Rosenkavalier" / 1949 Salzburg Festival / Reining, Novotna, Güden, Vienna Phil., Szell

Exquisitely Dancing Style...

Edward R. Oneill | San Francisco, CA | 01/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm currently listening to this recording on XM Satellite Radio, and I'm very much impressed. For me, Rosenkavalier is best when it so strongly counterbalances Strauss's love of dissonance and density with pure lyricism. I love the old Lehmann/Schumann recording, except for the lack of depth in recordings from that period, and a tendency towards thinness in the soprano singing--a kind of over-delicate, girlish quality.



Perhaps the sound quality of this live recording is not up to snuff with contemporary studio recordings, but it's remarkably clear and bright (in this digital radio offering).



And the big surprise for me is the exquisitely apt, dancingly rhythmic style Szell brings to the whole thing.



We don't normally, I believe, think of Szell as a conductor who generates a stylish, limpid sound. I think of him, anyway, as one of the bigger, noisier, more boisterous conductors--like Reiner in a certain vein or Solti (but not so loud).



But, like Reiner, Szell can bring a wonderful lyric musicality out of an orchestra--especially these Viennese musicians.



Operas, and live recordings especially, depend so much on a kind of mysterious coherence, the ability of the conductor to create an elastic pulse that continues from measure to measure and scene to scene and act to act so that the work coheres as a whole, rather than falling into separate 'effects,' however lovely.



Szell does that here, as Beecham does for his justly famous Boheme, von Karajan does for his old Magic Flute and Knappertsbusch does for his better Rings.



Having heard many modern recordings of Rosenkavalier and several older ones, I find this Szell recording a pretty much perfect reading of the work as a whole. Yes, others are more lush, have more perfect voices, are more delicate or more powerful here or there. But this one involves you from start to finish and gives you pleasure upon pleasure.



Go for it.





The above review was written before I ordered this CD. Now that I own it, I'm thrilled. It's a lovely edition of the work. The sonic restoration is as good as one can hope. It's a huge thick thing, with the entire libretto, lovely smart little essays, and gorgeous old photos, different ones in each language version of the essays. This is the way CD publishers should make money: adding value."