Customer Reviews

R. Strauss: Elektra

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Birgit Nilsson considered Elektra the most difficult role she ever sung. More so than even Isolde. Comparing Isolde with Elektra, Birgit Nilsson said 'If it is uncut, [Elektra] has abouty 1500 measures, and you have to sing loud all the time. I'm not sure it's good for my voice. Isolde has 1750 measures, but you can relax part of the time. Elektra never relaxes." Imagine, the greatest Brunnhilde since the advent of stereo considers this her most difficult role!! That speaks a lot as to how difficult it is to sing Elektra. Elektra is almost always cut in live performances, simply because it is near impossible for any soprano to sing the part without ruining the voice.

Here preserved on record is Birgit Nilsson presenting Elektra in her absolute prime!! She is terrifying and simply magnificent. All the high notes are attacked unflinchingly and dead on accurate!! All the high B's and C's soar above the huge Straussian orchestra at the climaxes. This is a rarity - something you MUST hear, even if you do not like Strauss. Solti's approach makes the performance even more thrilling. His attention to detail is amazing. Decca has remastered this Elektra to stunning effect, using the latest 96kHz, 24-bit technology. A CEDAR DH2 dehisser has been used so that the hiss sound is removed without removing the musical overtones and ambience (which happens when the sledgehammer approached is used - equalization). The recorded sound is fantastic!! So all the exciting detail that Strauss wrote comes through under Solti's conducting.

A performance not to be missed!!

Ideally, I'd have given this recording 4.5 stars (the thing that bothers me is Marie Collier's howling and crying as Chrysothemis: much as it is indeed called-for in the score, it seems overdone...); since that's not available, let it have the full 5 as it otherwise deserves it. This is particularly so given its presenting the full uncut musical text of the opera (apparently all the other recordings, with the possible exception of the Sawallisch, have the same 6-7 cuts that are usually made with staged performances); in any case, the performances (particularly those of Solti and the Wiener Philharmoniker, as well as of Nilsson and Krause - what power!!!) make this recording an absolute must in any serious classical music collection - especially with any Straussians! People, do your best to get this recording (even if you need to order it from Amazon's UK subsidiary, where it's readily available as yet!).

Unlike Birgit Nilsson's other Decca recordings where she is sometimes recorded rather too far back, here she is recorded more to the fore. Her voice is more faithfully captured compared to her Brunnhilde in Solti's Ring. And contrary to what a lot of people might expect, her voice is very beautiful in this recording! More beautiful than her Brunnhilde or Isolde!! There is none of the screeching that you get from other sopranos. In her other recordings, there is sometimes a certain lack of legato in Nilsson's singing. In this recording, she seems to sing with more legato than usual and the way she vocalizes those long and high Straussian phrases - my goodness! - it took my breath away. She is literally pouring forth glorious floods of pure, rich and warm tone!! Absolutely thrilling. I have almost all of Birgit Nilsson's recording. After hearing so many of her recording, I believe (as many other people do) that this Elektra is Birgit Nilsson's greatest achievement for the gramophone. Her singing here is something that we would be lucky to hear even once in a lifetime. All the climaxes and high notes are met with absolute perfection. There is absolutely no shirking at all from her part. One of the greatest performances of an opera on record. Do not miss it under any circumstances.

Sir Georg Solti, Birgit Nilsson, Marie Collier, Regina Resnik, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra gives an elektrifying performance of Elektra. The Vienna Philharmonic is in superlative form - all the details of the score are beautifully captured by John Culshaw's recording. Sir Georg Solti directs a powerful reading.

Marie Collier's Chrysothemis soars above the dense orchestration with ease sounding appropriately nervous as Elektra's weak-minded sister. Her nervous characterization is very apt and provides a beautiful contrast against Birgit Nilsson's headstrong Elektra. Marie Collier was a replacement for Leonie Rysanek who disliked the recording studio. The recording is in superb stereo sound that puts even today's digital engineers to shame!!! (I think of disgust at how many times these 'digital' engineers mess up an otherwise wonderful performance bacause they didn't know how to balance the sound and place the microphones).

Anyway, back to this recording. Regina Resnik, who was on the cast in December 1965, Vienna (with Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek), is the quintessential Klytamnestra. Her description of her nightmares is spine-chilling. Her characterization is just incredible and this reflects her extensive stage experience in the role.

Finally and most importantly, the biggest star of this performance - Birgit Nilsson - greatest Turandot, greatest Isolde, greatest Brunnhilde and greatest Elektra!! Birgit Nilsson is simple spectacular in this enormously difficult role of Elektra. She sings the role with astonishing ease, the role poses simply no problem for her. She has to hit the high B flats, high B's and high C's like a zillion times all fortissimo and she hurdles over all of them like nobody's business. While other sopranos screech and wobble at the top, her tone is ABSOLUTELY and INHUMANLY steady!! Her control over her voice is mind-boggling. And her voice penetrates the thick orchestration like a sharp laser beam. Her Elektra is an astounding performance, her voice like waves of a gigantic tsunami pummeling you. Yet she is able to give some nice floated and FULLY SUPPORTED piannisimo in the recognition scene. Birgit Nilsson's Elektra is unique and impossible to 'copy'. This is a performance to hear and to marvel at. It is a spell-binding performance.

This is, without doubt, a first choice for any newcomer to Elektra. It is one of those incredible performances (like Klemperer's Fidelio and Giulini's Don Giovanni) that has to be on every opera lover's shelf.

"Elektra" is a nasty piece of work - agonized roiling in a dark pit of primal emotion, puncutated by shrieking eruptions of rage. And Solti - never the subtlest of maestros - milks the score for all its worth. You may feel the need for a shower by the time it's over.

But it's Nilsson who elevates this recording into immortality. In "Ring Resounding", John Culshaw - who recorded her Brunnhilde for Solti's landmark Wagner cycle - states that not even Flagstad in her prime could match her vocal power. A bold statement! But no one who listens to this opera will be inclined to doubt it. And her vocal acting here is marvelous as well.

There are few flaws in this set. Solti's conducting is super. But, there are places where he could have phrased it better and I have heard other conductors' phraseology, which is better than Solti's. Even Birgit Nilsson could have phrased some of her lines better. I have heard her sing elsewhere where she was more dramatically involved and phrased her lines better. Having said that, these are minor faults. We are lucky that this document even exists - there are no sopranos today who can sing Elektra with Nilsson's total security of line.

Dissonance, discord, terror, passion, revenge, and chaos are put to music in what many Strauss fans consider his greatest opera. Birgit Nilsson, at peak form for what could possible be her greatest recording, makes this a must purchase for any opera collection. I had the pleasure and privilege to see Ms. Nilsson perform this role at the Metropolitan in 1971 and rank it as one of the greatest experiences in my lifetime, right up with my marriage, and the birth of my two children. I can still feel her voice shaking the brass railing, while drowning out a 111-piece orchestra. But, unlike the live performance, and to the credit of this recording, the cast here is equal to the task (payroll prohibitive for a live performance), as the great Georg Solti raises Strauss to new heights. Regina Resnik (damn good) is in perfect form as Elektra's nemesis. Gerhard Stolze, as Gegisthus, (not much of a role) puts out quiet a yowl as baritone Tom Kraus removes him from the head of the table. Krause's Orestes is perfect and responds beautifully to Elektra's demands for revenge (a good role for a good baritone). Marie Collier plays Chrysothemis and plays a perfect timid opposite to big sister Nilsson, in what, at one point, almost becomes a love scene. Perfect in every regard, I like everything about this recording. Even the stage noise adds to the strange, yet stirring Strauss dissonance. Powerful and dark you will love or hate this recording, exactly as Strauss would have wanted. Look no further.

A first rate cast and a fabulous conductor make this an arresting performance in every way. Do not miss it!! You can get it from the UK now and, why it has been so long out of print here is beyond me.

Great, scary, astounding in every way!!

Birgit Nilsson is supreme, absolutely supreme in the freakishly difficult role of Elektra. She is Elektra bar none. And this Solti set is Supreme!! Absolutely supreme!! There's no better set of Elektra on the market even today with all the advances in recording technology. The supreme Elektra of the Ages! The stereo sound is stunning!

Where many other sopranos screeh and scream, Birgit Nilsson sings, and sings magnificently with sumptuous tone and a beautiful voice. She is inside her part, singing with fury, scorn, sadness, disbelief and ecstaty where required. A magnificent impersonation with an exceptional team comprising Resnik, Collier and of course, the legendary Solti and the players of the Vienna Philhamonic who play like gods.