Search - Richard Strauss, Sir Georg Solti, Birgit Nilsson :: Strauss: Salome

Amazon Keeps Selling Discontinued Version Of Salome

Jim Player | 07/03/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon needs to get with the program and stop selling this discontinued version of Salome. This recording has been reissued by Decca, using the SAME CATALOG number, with different artwork and a vastly cleaner, remastered version of the recording. There's just no excuse for Amazon to keep selling and shipping this inferior, past version of the recording. Decca is using the same SKUs and catalog numbers for all the remastered Solti recordings, evidently hoping to sell through the old stock. But all the other Solti Strauss recordings are now available in the new, remastered and re-packaged versions, only this Salome keeps hanging around the Amazon warehouse."

A Night in Hell - or - Who's Afraid of Birgit Nilsson?

Jim Player | Rochester, NY, USA | 07/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The London/Solti Salome is simply one of the greatest performances on record. Solti delves with relish into to the exotic nervousness of the score, in total command from the first quivering notes right through to the final gut-wrenching climax. The cast is near ideal... Birgit Nilsson may not win you over at once with her somewhat steely timbre, but she gives a performance of a lifetime. Her singing is intense and well focused, slick and silvery in true Straussian fashion. The scene with the Executioner going into the cistern is truly amazing...breathless and genuinely intense. Stolze, so often criticized for his exaggerations is in the perfect role for him. You will NEVER be likely to hear such a complete conception of Herod as you will find here, from intoxicated bravado to the pathetic deflating realizition that he has been a mere pawn of the object of his lust (and how lusty he is!) All other Herods are pale and bland compared to him. Wächter has been criticized as being too light for the role...but the more you hear him, the more ideal he becomes. Has he really ever sung poorly? Kmennt has never been a favorite singer of mine, and this recording doesn't do much to change that. The five Jews are tremendous, a well rounded group of veterens, and Tom Krause as the First Nazarene shines. This is definitely one of producer John Culshaw's finer moments - equal in stature to anything in the Ring, yet minus the obtrusive sound effects that are so distractive to the music. Balance between the orchestra and singers is ideal, and some acoustical "gimmicks", such as with Nilsson as she waits for the severed head of Jochanaan work to perfection, adding tension to the scene. Sorry all you Solti detractors....this Salome is here to stay!"

Gripping & electrifying performance form start to finish

Jim Player | 10/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a gripping & electrifying performance of Salome from start to finish. All the orchestral details have been beautifully captured by Decca's engineers, amazingly more orchestral details have been captured in this 1961 recording than recordings made with digital technology!! The stereo sound is simply superb, better than digital recordings of Salome. I bought Eva Marton's Salome with Mehta recorded in 1990 and it was a disappointment. Not only was the orchestra recessed, her voice was not very attractive. It has been said that Birgit Nilsson's voice is like a laser beam, able to cut through the loudest and cruelest orchestra. It is thrilling to be able to hear Birgit Nilsson's laser beam voice cut through the orchestra with razor blade sharpness. If you like Nilsson's Brunnhilde, you must buy her Salome. It is an incredible performance and there is a certain quality in her tone and phrasing that is not often heard in her Burnnhilde. The relentlessly high tessitura of Salome is just perfect for Birgit Nilsson. I also disagree that she does not sound like a teenager. I think she is very successful in lightening her voice and making herself sound like a young teenager - perhaps a teenager that has matured earlier than usual. But yes, there is that teenager quality. Gramophone magazine says Cheryl Studer has the power of Nilsson. That statement is a bit of an exaggeration. There is no way that Cheryl Studer could compete with Nilsson. While Studer's voice strains a little at the top and climaxes (just a hint of strain but the performance is stil fantastic), Nilsson's top notes are rock solid with no strain. And it is amazing how she can fine her voice away into a slender tone and yet retain the power to slice through the dense orchestra much like legendary Salome Ljuba Welitsch. As one reviewer below puts it below, she has the purity of line of a lyric soprano and the force and power of a dramatic soprano. After listening to this recording, you will understand why Birgit Nilsson is, well, Birgit Nilsson. Yes, there were louder dramatic sopranos but few possessed Nilsson's prodigious vocalism."