Customer Reviews

Elektra

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was initially reluctant to purchase this cd because it is a digital remaster of a 1953 west german radio recording. Don't be reluctant. This has everything one wants in an Elektra: it is evil, desperate, sensual...even romantic. Astrid Varnay is magnificent. Her tone and phrasing bring one the chills that one should get when listening to Elektra. Leonie Rysanek and Res Fischer are excellent, too.

I had written a long RAVE review of this recording and left the page to look up the conductor's name. When I returned, all my painstaking effort had been erased. Suffice it to say then that I found the recording SPECTACULAR on all fronts.I won't write so specific a review here again.

This appears to be a reissue so I have copied my review from the first release.

As Luisa Tetrazzini said "either ya gott-a da voice or ya don't gott-a da voice" Varnay had-a da voice. The only regret I have is that this performance takes cuts, as almost all do but it would have been great to hear Varnay sing the whole "Was bluten muss?" Does anyone out there know if Varnay every did a studio recording of Elektra, if so I would really like to have a copy. Rysnaek is young here and sounds like a younger sister and already has the part all sewed up. I heard the Solti recording first and listened to it a hundred times before trying other conductors and Kraus does have a different take on the music than Solti but I now find it is interesting to hear different versions. One of the main parts I listen for is the end of "Was bluten muss?" where Elektra sings "der jauchtz" most singers disappear into the orchasrta here, only Nilsson and Varnay can be distinctly heard.