Arabella

[Guido]

What's the best recording? I'm quite tempted by the Kiri te Kanawa - she seems vocally ideally suited to the role and it'll be in fairly good sound I imagine. Her German pronunciation and slight woodeness annoys me sometimes, but I like her when she's at her best. I have Lisa Della Casa live with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau which is a bit disappointing - Strauss called her the ideal Arabella but she sings out of tune so often, and crucially in the most special parts - such as Das war sehr gut - fairly shocking actually.

Is there a live broadcast floating around anywhere of Fleming doing it? She sings marvellously on the DVD thats been released, but the sound is bad and the orchestral playing (or rather the conducting from Werner Most) is so matter of fact and lacking in lushness that its almost ruined.

[kishnevi]

What's the best recording? I'm quite tempted by the Kiri te Kanawa - she seems vocally ideally suited to the role and it'll be in fairly good sound I imagine. Her German pronunciation and slight woodeness annoys me sometimes, but I like her when she's at her best. I have Lisa Della Casa live with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau which is a bit disappointing - Strauss called her the ideal Arabella but she sings out of tune so often, and crucially in the most special parts - such as Das war sehr gut - fairly shocking actually.

Is there a live broadcast floating around anywhere of Fleming doing it? She sings marvellously on the DVD thats been released, but the sound is bad and the orchestral playing (or rather the conducting from Werner Most) is so matter of fact and lacking in lushness that its almost ruined.

Della Casa recorded Arabella under Solti's baton in 1957 (George London as Mandryka) with the VPO.   It's available as a very budgety re-issue in the Decca "Heritage Masters" series (no libretto or liner notes beyond the cast list and recording details).    I'm not a maven on Strauss operas, and this is my only recording, but I think you'll find it more satisfactory than the live performance you described.

[Tsaraslondon]

There's a rather expensive version on Orfeo, with Varady, and Fischer-Dieskau (again) and conducted by that master Straussian, Wolfgang Sawallisch. I only heard excerpts on the radio once, but it sounded very impressive to me. The only things that has put me off buying it so far is price. It's also probably the reason I don't have a complete recording of the opera, as the cheaper options don't seem that enticing.

Schwarzkopf only recorded excerpts, but they are definitely worth acquiring. Metternich is brilliantly cast as Mandryka and Gedda is superb as Matteo. The conductor is Lovro von Matacic. Too bad they didn't record the complete opera.

[False_Dmitry]

I've tried and tried with this work.   The Thielemann & Welser-Most recordings, and I've seen it live at Glyndebourne some years ago.  I still can't find the attraction in it... in fact I dislike it more each time I try, so I've resolved to leave it alone now.  Don't you find it cloying and pretentious?

[Tsaraslondon]

I've tried and tried with this work.   The Thielemann & Welser-Most recordings, and I've seen it live at Glyndebourne some years ago.  I still can't find the attraction in it... in fact I dislike it more each time I try, so I've resolved to leave it alone now.  Don't you find it cloying and pretentious?

Well I haven't seen or heard it a long while, though I do listen to the Schwarzkopf excerpts from time to time, and just revel in the glorious singing. As a teenager I saw a film of the opera with Janowitz in the title role and was totally enraptured, though even then I found the Fiakermilli bits pretty hard to take. Nowadays I do find the story more than a little ridiculous and even a little offensive, but it does have some glorious music, and I love Strauss's writing for the soprano voice. Maybe I should just stick to the Schwarzkopf excerpts after all.

[Guido]

I've tried and tried with this work.   The Thielemann & Welser-Most recordings, and I've seen it live at Glyndebourne some years ago.  I still can't find the attraction in it... in fact I dislike it more each time I try, so I've resolved to leave it alone now.  Don't you find it cloying and pretentious?

In what sense? The music or the libretto? Remember that Hofmannsthal died before properly shaping the second and third acts and Strauss chose to set these two exactly as he had left them in homage to his great colleague - they are however, markedly worse than the first act which I think is just great and musically I think it reflects this also. I agree that there are some weaknesses and occasionally the plot is annoying, but Strauss is composing in exactly the subject area that he excels at so I personally I feel like we get glimpses of the true mastery that is revealed in the very famous operas at the beginning and end of his career. It's certainly his best opera of the 30s.

I think Arabella and Zdenka are wonderfully sketched out characters at least in the first act, and their music is often glorious - that duet in the first act is just so beautiful (though Welser Most just rushes through it - horrendous!) and then the close of the act where Arabella has her monologue approaches though doesn't quite equal the Marschallin's monologue in its touching characterisation and the beauty of the music. Both characters become a little less rounded in the later acts with Arabella apparently completely giving herself to a man when she had been so feisty before but I think an intelligent production with good actors can get around this. The third act is even more farfetched but features another gorgeous aria and then a beautiful ending.

As ever, Strauss is slightly pushing boundaries here as he did with all his intimate, non mythical operas - that Arabella will only marry for love would still have been fairly controversial for a women in high society at that time, though the way it actually resolves itself is perhaps less than satisfactory.

Thanks for the tips - I'll look those ones up. I've just discovered that the Te Kanawa version has succumbed to the deletions axe - what are they thinking?!

[False_Dmitry]

Nowadays I do find the story more than a little ridiculous and even a little offensive

Yes, that's largely what I meant    I suppose I really find it such a disappointment compared to the earlier Hofmanstahl works..  as though he suddenly lost the confidence to proceed in that direction, and backtracked.

[Maciek]

that Arabella will only marry for love would still have been fairly controversial for a women in high society at that time

In the 1930s? Are you sure?

[mc ukrneal]

I have the Arabella you ask about. A shame it is not available, as it is quite good. Yeah, it misses that extra bit of oompf that a live version would have given, and the role of Zdenka is perhaps not ideal, but overall this is a winner. Tate conducts it at lively tempos, and Kiri sings beautifully. Her voice is truly enrapturing here. So I have no idea how it compares ot others, but it is a version to savor and enjoy (and it took me many years to really begin to appreciate it).

[Guido]

In the 1930s? Are you sure?

Sorry I should have been clearer - it's set in 1860.

[Guido]

I have the Arabella you ask about. A shame it is not available, as it is quite good. Yeah, it misses that extra bit of oompf that a live version would have given, and the role of Zdenka is perhaps not ideal, but overall this is a winner. Tate conducts it at lively tempos, and Kiri sings beautifully. Her voice is truly enrapturing here. So I have no idea how it compares ot others, but it is a version to savor and enjoy (and it took me many years to really begin to appreciate it).

I will keep on the lookout for it... There are recordings of a Met broadcast from 1983 with Battle as Zdenka on youtube with Kiri in the title role again - these sound absolutely gorgeous - Battle is just right for Zdenka it seems - that brittly lyrical tone she has seems perfectly suited to the character - though quite how a Mauri and an African American are meant to be sisters?! 

[Maciek]

Sorry I should have been clearer - it's set in 1860.

Ah, I see.

[Guido]

Just listened to the earlier Arabella recording on Spotify - the singing from della Casa is just glorious and much better than the live recording, though I do love Fischer Dieskau as Mandryka (his best role?). Still though, she tends to sit on the flat side of the note, and though the tone is ravishing and the text is wonderfully sung, it grates on me the slightest bit.

[ccar]

For those who are not dependent on perfect "sound" and perfect "voices", I would recommend the Salzburg Arabella with Clemens Krauss.

For a 1942 live recording the recorded sound is still quite acceptable.  And in my view it's difficult to get a more inspired conductor in this piece.   

[mjwal]

I fully agree with Tsaraslondon about this: the Schwarzkopf excerpts are ravishing but the whole opera drags quite a bit. I have only seen this in two televised productions on German TV and was mostly bored after the first act until the lovely ending. As has been pointed out, Hofmannsthal was ailing during the writing and died before doing necessary revisions. Strauss might have sharpened up his musical act in response. The actual content is of course very non-pc for nowadays, but Schwarzkopf's singing of "und du sollst mein Geliebter sein" is beyond gorgeous and makes me - the awful daring of a moment's surrender - believe in traditional marriage, but only for that moment .
Thanks for the Krauss recommendation, ccar, I'll look out for this - Krauss was for me the Strauss conductor sans pareil - not so long ago I discovered on a cheapo label (Cantus Classics) his live (and horribly cut) Rosenkavalier (Salzburg 1953): it wipes out every other performance in the climactic scene, IMO, by the time the Marschallin sings "Ja, ja" you have died and gone to heaven. Della Casa sings Octavian, by the way. - I think FiDi's Barak is his best role, by the way.

[Superhorn]

   You can't go wrong with the Solti set with Della Casa and George London. It has never been surpassed,despite the undeniable virtues of the other recordings.
  For DVD,the Thielemann/Met is also first rate.

[DarkAngel]

   You can't go wrong with the Solti set with Della Casa and George London. It has never been surpassed,despite the undeniable virtues of the other recordings.
  For DVD,the Thielemann/Met is also first rate.

Just recently ordered the Della Casa budget priced Arabella versions shown:
-Keilberth/DG Live
-Solti/Decca

Plus the cheap used Della Casa Strauss collection of songs on Decca Legends, all three cost under $20 total at Amazon USA

[DarkAngel]

For Arabella DVD I have the Te Kanawa........
She is the default automatic good choice in most of the Strauss opera DVDs, another lavish MET production.

Renee Fleming has several newer Strauss DVDs out now also although I have not seen them yet, one Arabella DVD will do for me

[Guido]

For Arabella DVD I have the Te Kanawa........
She is the default automatic good choice in most of the Strauss opera DVDs, another lavish MET production.

Renee Fleming has several newer Strauss DVDs out now also although I have not seen them yet, one Arabella DVD will do for me

Do you not find her a rather wooden and unsympathetic stage presence? (lovely though her voice undeniably is)

I haven't watched this DVD yet though it has to be said - its sitting on the shelf though. I enjoyed the Fleming DVD quite a bit - both her and Zdenka are very good, but the recorded sound is seriously thin (there's no sense of this being in an actual theatre - maybe they were wearing body microphones?). The conducting is even worse - Welser Most is shockingly  disconnected in a work that needs very careful and loving conducting if it is going to come off at all.

[DarkAngel]

Do you not find her a rather wooden and unsympathetic stage presence? (lovely though her voice undeniably is)

I haven't watched this DVD yet though it has to be said - its sitting on the shelf though. I enjoyed the Fleming DVD quite a bit - both her and Zdenka are very good, but the recorded sound is seriously thin (there's no sense of this being in an actual theatre - maybe they were wearing body microphones?). The conducting is even worse - Welser Most is shockingly  disconnected in a work that needs very careful and loving conducting if it is going to come off at all.

I understand what you are saying......

Kiri Te Kawana is not an aggressive outgoing persona......more serene, charming and deeply emotional or thoughtful, never going to be the sparkplug of a party, so parts must be chosen that she will fit, not a good Salome for instance