Strauss Heroines
Renée Fleming, Barbara Bonney (Sophie/Zdenka), Susan Graham (Oktavian), Walter Berry (MajorDomo/Faninal)
Vienna Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach
Strauss Heroines
Renée Fleming, Barbara Bonney (Sophie/Zdenka), Susan Graham (Oktavian), Walter Berry (MajorDomo/Faninal)
Vienna Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach
Purchase product
Eschenbach's conducting is superbly detailed.
About
Contents and tracklist
- Renée Fleming (soprano), Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano), Walter Berry (bassbaritonevocalist), Johannes Chum (tenor)
- Wiener Philharmoniker
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Recorded: 1998-12
- Recording Venue: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Wien
- Renée Fleming (soprano), Barbara Bonney (soprano), Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano), Walter Berry (bassbaritonevocalist)
- Wiener Philharmoniker
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Recorded: 1998-12
- Recording Venue: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Wien
- Renée Fleming (soprano), Barbara Bonney (soprano)
- Wiener Philharmoniker
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Recorded: 1998-12
- Recording Venue: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Wien
- Wiener Philharmoniker
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Recorded: 1998-12
- Recording Venue: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Wien
- Renée Fleming (soprano), Walter Berry (bassbaritonevocalist)
- Wiener Philharmoniker
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Recorded: 1998-12
- Recording Venue: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Wien
Awards and reviews
July 2006
Eschenbach's conducting is superbly detailed.
2010
This is a happily chosen Strauss showcase for Fleming. Her creamy, full-toned, vibrant voice is about the ideal instrument not only for the Marschallin but also for the other parts she attempts here. She has mastered the phraseology and verbal inflexions needed for all three roles, and imparts to them a quick intelligence to second the vocal glories. Sometimes her performance as the Marschallin or Countess Madeleine recalls, almost uncannily, those of Schwarzkopf, leaving one in no doubt that she has studied the readings of her distinguished predecessor. If Schwarzkopf with a slightly slimmer tone has the finer line and quicker responses, her successor provides the richer tone. Fleming need fear no comparisons with more recent interpreters such as Te Kanawa, Tomowa-Sintow and, as Madeleine only, Janowitz.
Indeed, Fleming's account of the closing scene of Capriccio is just about ideal. Her deluxe team of co-stars includes Susan Graham, who makes an ardent suitor in Rosenkavalier's Act 1 duets; her timbre is so similar to Fleming's that it's hard to tell them apart, though she isn't as verbally acute as her partner. And Barbara Bonney finally commits an extract of her enchanting Sophie, the best since Lucia Popp's; she also joins Fleming in the Arabella-Zdenka duet. Even the cameo appearances of a lackey at the close of Act 1 of DerRosenkavalier, of Faninal after the Act 3 trio, and the major-domo in the closing scene from Capriccio, are filled by the veteran Walter Berry. Under Eschenbach, the VPO plays immaculately – the horn solo in the Moonlight music is pure magic – and the sound quality is outstandingly life-like. A treat for Straussians.
2010 edition
this ravishing disc offers a generous collection of the most seductive scenes in the Strauss operas...Opulent sound to match.