Die Frau ohne Schatten

[johnshade]

Die Frau ohne Schatten, "The Woman without a Shadow" (premiered in 1919)

Posted by TheGSMoeller (Richard Strauss's house)

This is the most recent addition to my top ten from Strauss. I spent years and years listening to the Symphonic Fragment from Die Frau, and even though I found some great pleasure from it I always felt something was missing. Oh yeah, I know, the singing! And about another 2 hours and 45 minutes of music. My fear of opera left me in the blind for too long, but now I can see (and hear) and damn this is great stuff. The sheer scope of this piece is tremendous, over three hours long and requiring an arsenal of top-rated singers, a monumental sized band and numerous stage sets and changes.
I am drawn to Die Frau's mythical setting, which I believe Strauss scored ideally for. I also believe it contains the best opening and ending to any of his operas, the punch-in-the-face kickoff to start, and a a final 10 minutes that will make the hair on your neck stand tall! Overall this is one of the most beautifully conceived works of opera I've ever heard.

Similar to Elektra I only own one recording of Die Frau ohne Schatten, and again it's Solti with Vienna, but it's a real barnburner with some exquisite singing.

Oooooo, YES!!

I was hoping for a Schatten sighting!

The orchestration for this piece is exquisite. My favorite of all Strauss. I've always felt that this was his most colorful work.

Solti's performance is absolutely top-notch. And the sonics capture everything. Very impressive package all around.

However there is another that's just as good interpretively and is perhaps just a whisker better recorded: Sawallisch. But neither has a leg up over the other. They're perfect complements.

[asin]B005HYNCPE[/asin]

I agree with all of the above. Are there other opinions about this work of creative genius?

[kishnevi]

I had the Sawallisch for years and like it very much.  The Solti is my pile of stuff to listened to, so I can not make a direct comparison.

[mc ukrneal]

I bought the Solti version when it came out because the person at Tower (ok, this dates me a bit) was enamoured with it. I wasn't familiar with Strauss operas at the time (though knew his orchestral stuff well), but this one certainly got my attention. There really is some exquisite singing and music here.