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Strauss, R: Elektra

Regina Resnik (Klytämnestra), Birgit Nilsson (Elektra), Leonie Rysanek (Chrysothemis), Wolfgang Windgassen (Aegisth), Eberhard Waechter (Orest), Fredrick Guthrie (Der Pfleger der Orest), Margareta Sjöstedt (Vertraute), Margarita Lilova (Schleppträgerin), Gerhard Unger (Junger Diener), Herbert Lackner...

[Nilsson] is achingly tender in the recognition scene with Orestes, vividly obsequious as she lures Aegisthus to his death and tireless in her final, fatal dance...like Nilsson, [Resnik] really... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2014 More…

Release Date: 30th Jun 2014
Catalogue No: C886142
Label: Orfeo
Series: Wiener Staatsoper Live
Length: 98 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

October 2014

Re-issue of the Month

Strauss, R: Elektra

Work length1:38:31

$22.00

$28.55

Birgit Nilsson, Margarete Ast, Herbert Lackner, Eberhard Wächter, Frederick Guthrie, Regina Resnik, Margarete Sjöstedt, Leonie Rysanek, Gundula Janowitz, Wolfgang Windgassen, Margarita Lilowa, Gerda Scheyrer, Gerhard Unger, Danica Mastilovic
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper
Karl Böhm
Recorded: 16 December 1965
Recording Venue: Vienna State Opera, Vienna, Austria

Wo bleibt Elektra? (5 Magde, Aufseherin)

Track length5:52

$1.00

$1.30

Allein (Elektra)

Track length9:01

$2.00

$2.60

Elektra! (Chrysothemis, Elektra)

Track length2:08

$1.00

$1.30

Ich kann nicht sitzen und ins Dunkel starren (Chrysothemis, Elektra)

Track length6:09

$1.00

$1.30

Es geht ein Larm los (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

Track length2:35

$1.00

$1.30

Was willst du? Seht doch, dort! (Klytamnestra, Elektra, Vertraute, Schlepptragerin)

Track length4:43

$1.00

$1.30

Ich will nichts horen! (Klytamnestra)

Track length4:57

$1.00

$1.30

Ich habe keine guten Nachte (Klytamnestra, Elektra)

Track length8:28

$2.00

$2.60

Lasst du den Bruder nicht nach Hause? (Elektra, Klytamnestra)

Track length5:51

$1.00

$1.30

Orest ist tot (Chrysothemis, Elektra, Junger Diener, Alter Diener)

Track length6:12

$1.00

$1.30

Wie stark du bist (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

Track length4:30

$1.00

$1.30

Was willst du, fremder Mensch? (Elektra, Orest)

Track length9:44

$2.00

$2.60

Es ruhrt sich niemand! (Elektra, Orest, Pfelger des Orest)

Track length11:43

$3.00

$3.85

Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben konnen! (Elektra, Klytamnestra, Chrysothemis, 5 Magde, Dienerinnen)

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.30

He, Lichter (Aegisth, Elektra, Chrysothemis, Chorus)

Track length6:45

$1.00

$1.30

Ob ich nicht hore? (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

Track length7:33

$2.00

$2.60

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Following the scandalous 'Salome', it was with the radical, expressive violence of 'Elektra' in 1909 that Richard Strauss finally cemented his position as the leading German opera composer of his generation. The immense vocal and orchestral demands it makes remain undiminished and few singers have really been able to meet the murderous challenge of singing the title role. In the 1960s and ’70s, however, Birgit Nilsson was one, possessing as she did a powerful voice also capable of much subtlety. This live recording from the Vienna State Opera in 1965, in a production by Wieland Wagner, was conducted by the great Karl Böhm, and was a musical triumph. Not only did Böhm and Nilsson give full rein to the eruptive violence of Strauss’s setting but they also attended to the psychological details that the composer teased out of Hoffmansthal's text. They were aided in this by the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera and a cast that was homogeneous right down to the smallest roles. Leonie Rysanek sang the wistful Chrysothemis, in a role she made her own, and with her luminous soprano she was an ideal counterpart to Nilsson’s tortured heroine. As their adversary, their inscrutable mother Klytämnestra, the dusky-timbred Regina Resnik gave a superb performance. For the adulterous lover Aegisth, the State Opera engaged the legendary heldentenor Wolfgang Windgassen. Eberhard Waechter sang the part of Orest, and with his unmistakeable baritone he offered every possible nuance of this important character, driven by fate.

Artists

Chorus & Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Karl Böhm

Reviews

October 2014

[Nilsson] is achingly tender in the recognition scene with Orestes, vividly obsequious as she lures Aegisthus to his death and tireless in her final, fatal dance...like Nilsson, [Resnik] really acts with her voice...[Windgassen] makes a forthright Aegisthus...The conducting is beyond praise.

December 2014

the performance proceeds with a coherence and a unity of purpose that bespeak a true ensemble … this Elektra achieves its impact through the completeness of its musicality and technical mastery … With Varnay we get exceptional warmth and womanliness of tone, with Borkh overwhelming fierceness combined with painful vulnerability and a thrilling ‘flame’ in the voice. Both give full value textually, as does Nilsson … Highly recommended.

14th August 2014

Böhm was always at his best in live Strauss and this is no exception. Nilsson simply has no equal in the role … the sound is clear enough for us to hear instrumentalists turning the pages of the score.

7th August 2014

It features one of the most striking casts ever assembled for the work, though some of the individual singers can be heard to better advantage elsewhere...Böhm himself is at his absolute best, attaining almost unbearable levels of frenzy in places, yet also wonderfully detailed, even with the restricted, mono sound.

Strauss, R: Elektra

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