Search - Richard Strauss, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti :: Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten / Varady, Domingo, Behrens, van Dam, Sir Georg Solti

Magnetic

Brian M. Kulesza | 12/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In a magnetic reading from the first note to the last note, Solti gives a ravishingly beautiful yet dramatic fulfilment of this most diverse and fascinating of Strauss' operas. And the sound is extraordinarily fantastic - full and sumptuous with breathtaking playing by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. All the 5 principal singers are in superlative form. This is an instant classic if there was ever one."

The "Almost" Dream Recording

Lawrence Rapchak | Whiting, IN United States | 04/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This complex and demanding opera will probably always elude mere mortals in their attempt to document it in a definitive manner. But Solti comes close. He is in total command of the detailed and often over-elaborate textures, and the impact of the VPO in the big passages (the very opening, for instance) is FRIGHTENING! Typical bass-heavy Decca recording, with a separate microphone apparently placed down IN the bell of the Tuba... Excellent instrumental detail with much presence, though when the voices are going full tilt, orchestral detail tends to get obscured. Sawallisch's complete recording for EMI is better in this respect. (Also, just for the record, Solti substitutes the usual Vibraphone for Strauss' Glass-Harmonica in the final scenes; Sawallisch

is the only one I've heard use the real instrument).



Solti's tempi are very convincing, with a few exceptions---he really rushes the "Magic Pavillion" scene in Barak's hut (Act 1; again Sawallisch is perfect in every repsect here), and Barak's final big tune ("Nun will ich jubeln") really plods along, albeit with great gusto.



Casting is fascinating--the women generally fare better than the men. Julia Varady is a lovely (studio-only) Empress; fabulously expressive singing throughout. She even makes the long, hysterical spoken passage(upon seeing her husband petrified)sound dramatically plausible. Reinhild Runkel in the extremely demandig role of the Nurse is excellent--absolutely amazing, in fact! Terrific diction and understanding of every bit of the text, coupled with a true sense of the bizarre and nearly demented.



Solti's controversial choice of Domingo as the Emperor will always haunt this recording. He sounds extremely ill-at-ease with the conversational

first scene---and totally unidiomatic compared to the rest of the (mostly) Germanic cast. He settles into the style more comfortably for the big Act 2 scene, which Solti paces marvelously. Too bad James King's days of singing this role were behind him when this recording was made--he should have had a complete studio version to document his distinguished reign in this demanding role.



BIG DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THIS RECORDING-----in Act 1, during the intense scene with the Empress trying to convince the Nurse to take her down to the lower human realm, the singers fall a FULL MEASURE behind the orchestra. The clarinets have already jumped in a measure early at track 5, 4:31. And at track 5, 4:49 the ladies fall behind and remain a measure off for a full 24 bars!



Of course, in a massive and fiendishly difficult work such as "Die Frau", things like this can and do happen. But I am NOT nitpicking--this is supposed to be the "FRAU to end all FRAUS"---- extremely expensive and recorded and released with much fanfare----and yet it contains a HUGE

technical blemish that should have been corrected. (And, for all I know, it WAS re-edited in it's newer release--I have the original).



Still, probably THE Frau recording to own, if you only want one version. But don't by any means discount Sawallisch's complete set--it's pretty

phenomenal on its own terms(if you can find it)."