Richard Strauss' operas

[marvinbrown]

.
I have many DVDs and video tapes of Strauss operas and have been a long time serious listener to the music of Strauss. I have audio recordings of all 15 operas. I highly recommend the Solti DVD of Fr-o-sch (Strauss's nickname for Die Frau). I also have the Böhm videos of both Salome and Elektra. These operas are not taken from opera house performances, but are filmed from sets similar to a movie. These videos are produced by Unitel, a Munich based audio-video company. The sound is very good for the time. They are studio recordings. The performers are first-class. These were some of the last times that Böhm directed an orchestra before he died. Böhm knew Strauss well and is definitive as a Strauss conductor.
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  Ahh interesting I did not know that they were studio recordings, they certainly impressed me.  Now that I think about it that Salome did have that "movie" feel to it.....

  marvin

[Siedler]

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Re: Richard Strauss - Elektra / Abbado, Marton, Fassbaender, Vienna State Opera

With this cast and conductor, this has got to be a great DVD, though I haven't seen it. I will put on my shopping list. As they say, this DVD is self-recommending.

Yes, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed. I should order it too, as I've only borrowed it from my local library. Kupfer's production is wonderful - very gloomy and dark (thus doesn't adjust perfectly on DVD, turn up the brightness of your tv-set), and loudly booed by the conservative audience of the Staatsoper. The whole cast excels and so does Abbado with Wiener Philharmoniker.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I notice the presence of Eva Marton on a couple of these DVD's.

Can anyone write a word or two about her contributions?

What I've heard from her in the 90's (Walküre/EMI, Elektra/EMI) is so wobble-filled that it makes for rough going.

How's her form, here?

[T-C]

The Elektra DVD is from a 1987 Vienna state opera performance. Marton is very impressive here. The Die Frau ohne Schatten DVD is of a 1992 Salzburg Festival production and here her voice is less steady and the wobble more noticeable. But this should not deter you from the purchase. This is a highly impressive opera DVD.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Thank you , T-C!

[Guido]

Can anyone get the sound clips to play here:
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/music/200300409talks-fleming.html
I just get a "general error". Not helpful.

[mc ukrneal]

Can anyone get the sound clips to play here:
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/music/200300409talks-fleming.html
I just get a "general error". Not helpful.

I get the error too.

[Superhorn]

  Having gotten to know them from recordings in recent years, I'm convinced that the later and lesser-known Strauss operas are sadly underrated.  I've loved Salome, Elektra,Der Ropsenkavalier, Aridane and Frosch since I was a teengager
thousands of years ago, but I've become very fond of the less familiar ones.
   I've never been able to understand the neglect of Die Schweigsame Frau. I'ts one of the best comic operas of the 20th century, and contains some of the most joyous and witty music Strauss ever wrote. 
If Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne might be called Mozartian,  Die Schweigsame Frau could be called 
a 20th century Rossinian opera buffa.  You might call it Don Pasquale meets Pirates of the caribbean !
Daphne is ravishingly beautiful  and  sensuously atmospheric. 
If you don't have the classic Boehm /DG recording  with Hilde Gueden, James King, and Fritz Wunderlich ,
you've got to get it.  The much more recent Decca studio version with Renee Fleming and Johan Botha
conducted by Semyon Bychkov is also worth getting.
   If you can find  the EMI  Schweigsame with  Marek Janowski and the Staatskapelle Dresden, grab it.
  It's the only studio recording of it so far, and uncut.  The other live recordings have some of these.
    I'm hoping that the Met will do a production of this delightful comic opera sometime soon, perhaps with
either Christian Thielemann or Fabio Luisi conducting. But this may be a pipe dream.;
   

[MDL]

.
. I also have the Böhm videos of both Salome and Elektra. These operas are not taken from opera house performances, but are filmed from sets similar to a movie. These videos are produced by Unitel, a Munich based audio-video company. The sound is very good for the time. They are studio recordings. The performers are first-class. These were some of the last times that Böhm directed an orchestra before he died. Böhm knew Strauss well and is definitive as a Strauss conductor.
.

I love both of these films. OK, purists will argue, perhaps correctly, that having singers miming to recordings is cheating in some way, but once you accept that you're watching movies, not filmed stage performances, they're riveting. The Elektra film is a splendidly bleak, grotty and brutal; Greek tragedy meets Blade Runner. Ooh, must dig out my VHS.

[MDL]

Knowing that Rosenkavalier is Strauss's most popular opera, and one that I've moaned about not appreciating in the past, I spent a few evenings recently playing my Karajan recording over and over again, trying to crack this opera. Well, obviously, I now appreciate it more than I did a few years ago, but it still doesn't grab me in the way Salome, Elektra or even Frau do.

[Guido]

  Having gotten to know them from recordings in recent years, I'm convinced that the later and lesser-known Strauss operas are sadly underrated.  I've loved Salome, Elektra,Der Ropsenkavalier, Aridane and Frosch since I was a teengager
thousands of years ago, but I've become very fond of the less familiar ones.
   I've never been able to understand the neglect of Die Schweigsame Frau. I'ts one of the best comic operas of the 20th century, and contains some of the most joyous and witty music Strauss ever wrote. 
If Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne might be called Mozartian,  Die Schweigsame Frau could be called 
a 20th century Rossinian opera buffa.  You might call it Don Pasquale meets Pirates of the caribbean !
Daphne is ravishingly beautiful  and  sensuously atmospheric. 
If you don't have the classic Boehm /DG recording  with Hilde Gueden, James King, and Fritz Wunderlich ,
you've got to get it.  The much more recent Decca studio version with Renee Fleming and Johan Botha
conducted by Semyon Bychkov is also worth getting.
   If you can find  the EMI  Schweigsame with  Marek Janowski and the Staatskapelle Dresden, grab it.
  It's the only studio recording of it so far, and uncut.  The other live recordings have some of these.
    I'm hoping that the Met will do a production of this delightful comic opera sometime soon, perhaps with
either Christian Thielemann or Fabio Luisi conducting. But this may be a pipe dream.;

I adore Strauss, but I don't agree here: while I think they all contain good portions, the lesser known operas you mention are neglected for good reason - all are very flawed. Amongst his ouevre, only Capriccio is sometimes unfairly misunderstood (though most musicians and conductors I know treasure it for what it is), though it seems to have been getting quite a few performances lately.

Die Schweigsame Frau is funny in parts, but it is also laboured and often dull. The music is sometimes lovely (I love the final 5 minutes, and the sextet and a few other portions), but so often escapes into routine that ther whole is irredeemably marred.

Daphne is extremely beautiful (especially the three big soprano monologues, surprise, surprise), but again is often uninspired musically, but more crushingly, the text and drama is awful.

[Mandryka]

  Having gotten to know them from recordings in recent years, I'm convinced that the later and lesser-known Strauss operas are sadly underrated.  I've loved Salome, Elektra,Der Ropsenkavalier, Aridane and Frosch since I was a teengager
thousands of years ago, but I've become very fond of the less familiar ones.
   I've never been able to understand the neglect of Die Schweigsame Frau. I'ts one of the best comic operas of the 20th century, and contains some of the most joyous and witty music Strauss ever wrote. 
If Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne might be called Mozartian,  Die Schweigsame Frau could be called 
a 20th century Rossinian opera buffa.  You might call it Don Pasquale meets Pirates of the caribbean !
Daphne is ravishingly beautiful  and  sensuously atmospheric. 
If you don't have the classic Boehm /DG recording  with Hilde Gueden, James King, and Fritz Wunderlich ,
you've got to get it.  The much more recent Decca studio version with Renee Fleming and Johan Botha
conducted by Semyon Bychkov is also worth getting.
   If you can find  the EMI  Schweigsame with  Marek Janowski and the Staatskapelle Dresden, grab it.
  It's the only studio recording of it so far, and uncut.  The other live recordings have some of these.
    I'm hoping that the Met will do a production of this delightful comic opera sometime soon, perhaps with
either Christian Thielemann or Fabio Luisi conducting. But this may be a pipe dream.;

One that I have always loved is Intermezzo (there's a  nice performance on DVD with Flott) . Also Die Ägyptische Helena is certainly worth knowing.

[Superhorn]

    I couldn't disagree more about Schweigsame and Daphne.  Having gotten to know and love it from the EMI recording,
   I  don't find it at all "labored" or "dull".  Daphne might not be very dramatic(it's a pastoral work after all)  ,  but  I think the whole
   work is quite inspired from beginning to end.
   I recently got to know the second Strauss opera  Feuersnot  from the excelent recording with  Julia Varady and Bernd Weikl, conducted
   by Heinz Fricke, and  enjoyed it very much .  It's  very Gemutlich  and  witty , although the Bavarian dialect   it uses  can be difficult even for other Germans.

   

[MDL]

Sinopoli's recording of Friedenstag has been reissued on Brilliant. Is this opera worth hearing or is it a bit of a dog?

[Guido]

It's the pits.

[MDL]

It's the pits.

Ha! Hastily mopping up the mouthful of beer I spat out laughing at your post. Thanks, Guido; I think I'll give it a miss.

[Guido]

Welcome!