Einem: Dantons Tod

Gottfried von Einem (Composer), Ferenc Fricsay (Conductor), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Georg Hann (Performer), Herbert Alsen (Performer), Joseph Witt (Performer), Julius Patzak (Performer), Ludwig Weber (Performer), Maria Cebotari (Performer), Paul Schöffler (Performer), Peter Klein (Performer), Rosette Anday (Performer), Wilhelm Felden (Performer), William Wernigk (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Georg Hann, Herbert Alsen, Joseph Witt, Julius Patzak, Ludwig Weber, et al.
• Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Ferenc Fricsay
• Composer: Gottfried von Einem
• Audio CD (October 2, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Opera D'oro
• ASIN: B00005OC5W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #529,341 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ignored opera that was once a huge dramatic success, May 15, 2007

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Einem: Dantons Tod (Audio CD)

It has taken me a long time to get around to von Einem's splashy, intensely theatrical Dantons Tod, even though I was aware of its high reputation in Germany. Like Pfitzner's Palestrina, the work hangs on in Germain opera houses but is totally ignored in Britain and America. This is the premiere performance from 1947 in servicable radio sound, mono of course, but with plenty of intrusive stage noises. Since the pitch isn't distorted, the sound didn't bother me, but newcomers to historical sound be warned. As for the performance itself, Fricsay leads with white-hot intensity, and it's only a pity that the big crowd scenes during the Reign of Terror, so essential to the opera's dramatic impact, sound distant and murky.

As for von Einem's musical idiom, it's moernist conservative, like Orff, "Zemlinky, and Pfitzner. The music reels and punches, with a great deal of well calculated melodrama, and since the basis was Georg Buchner's searing stage play (Buchner was the author of Woyzeck, made into Berg's opera, Wozzeck), von Einem wisely makes much of the singing declamatory, leading up to the riveting trial where Danton confronts his tormentor, the evil despot Robespierre. Any listener who has a taste for Wozzeck will find von Einem equally brutal and psychological but musically much closer to film music.

This particular staging from Salzburg launched Fricsay as a major conductor, and given the equally committed soloists, Daontons Tod couldn't have had a more auspicious launch. Every voice--Schoffler, Patzak, Cebotari, and Webber--is beyond criticism.

P.S. For those who want updated sound, there's a stereo recording of a concert performance on Orfeo. It has a good reputation but lacks the incendiary power of this set.