Customer Reviews

R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten

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

 

 

This is one of the few note complete Die Frau Ohne Schatten. It is an excellent performance. While Christa Ludwig in Karajan's 1964 Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Deutsche Grammophon) is still supreme in the role of the Dyer's wife, Ute Vinzing makes a compelling Dyer's Wife in this recording. Cheryl Studer is absolutely superb in the role of the Empress. While Studer does not possess the vocal opulence and vocal heft of the Empress of all Empresses, Leonie Rysanek, Studer does bring something of her own to the role. Her beauty of tone and line makes this Empress an absolutely lovely one to listen to - sheer perfection of its own kind. Hanna Schwarz is terrific in the difficult role of the Nurse. Kollo is an excellent Emperor though not in the league of the greatest Emperor of the past generation, James King. Alfred Muff is excellent as the Barak but again does not replace Walter Berry. All told, this is a superb achievement that will work as a sole and first recommendation.

If you want a simply electrifying performance and you must have Sawallisch conducting, the 1976 Munchen version under Golden Melodram is indispensable. There, you have Birgit Nilsson as the Dyer's Wife is electrifying form. Her voice is bright and powerful, even at age 58!! Amazing!! Her dramatic outbursts are extraordinarily powerful and they hit you like a gigantic tsunami. Fisher Dieskau as the Barak brings the sensitivity of a German Lieder singer to bear in the role. James King is in absolutely top form as the Emperor, his rich and powerful voice ringing out gloriously in all his big scenes. James King was the most sought after Emperor in his time and the 1976 recording is possibly his best Emperor on record. Astrid Varnay is incredible and suitably malevolent as the Nurse. Bjoner, a lesser known singer, has an incredibly powerful voice as the Empress. While also lacking the vocal opulence of Leonie Rysanek, Bjoner has plenty of vocal heft and sounds like Birgit Nilsson at times in her great moments. Sonics is not as good as this studio recording, opera is not given complete and the recording is pricier but I think the electricity of that performance is worth it - I would certainly choose that version over this one.

It is unfortunate that this recording of Frau Ohne Schatten is out of print, for it really does feature a wonderful team assembled around this beautiful opera. For starters, it is a complete recording, and it also features singers who have had a lot of experience with their roles onstage. Wolfgang Sawallisch is also one of the best Straussian conductors, and he recorded it with the lovely Bavarian radio. The musi has vertical and horizontal clarity, beauty of tone, well-judged tempi, and a drive absent from the plodding Solti recording. It reveals all the beauty in Strauss' score and a sophistication absent from many recordings of the work.

The highlight of this recording is perhaps the perfect Kaiserin of Cheryl Studer. Not only does she have the diaphanous voice that characterizes this very difficult role, but she also has the vocal agility to carry out the coloratura. This, along with her Salome, is probably Studer's best recorded performance. I would rank her along with the greats of Rysanek, Janowitz, and Voigt, and I'm glad she took this role to the studio.

The other highlight of this recording is the perfectly nuanced and sung Nurse of Hanna Schwarz. While she doesn't have the dark, blood-chilling timbre of a contralto, she makes up for it with her intelligent interpretation of the part, turning what seems like a vocal disadvantage into a definitive Amme.

Rene Kollo is a handsome-sounding Kaiser, and even if he doesn't have James King's dark timbre, his voice works very well for the high-lying music of the Emperor. The Barak, Alfred Muff, is competent for the job, although I wish Franz Grundheber had recorded the part.

The only drawback to this recording is Ute Vinzing's Färberin. I don't like her tone...I think it is ugly for a woman who is supposed to be beautiful according to how Strauss wanted her. Where were Gwyneth Jones and all those other better hochdramatisches when this was recorded!!?!

Anyways, I would recommend that you buy this recording. It is the best performance of Frau you will ever hear in a studio atmosphere.

There are only 2 complete Die Frau Ohne Schattens on the market. The Solti and the Sawallisch. It is fashionable to say that the Solti is the best. No, that is not true.

The reason people like to say the Solti is the best is that Decca advertised that it had ploughed $1 million into the Solti recording - the most expensive opera set ever at that time. But if you read the Solti cast carefully, NONE of Solti's 5 principal singers ever sung their roles on stage. Varady, Behrens, Domingo, Van Dam, Runkel - all 5 NEVER sung their roles on stage. On the other hand, the Sawallisch set was produced in conjunction with real performances at the Bavarian State Opera.

The end result? It shows very clearly in the performance. While the Solti is excellent, it is the Sawallisch that truly captures the incandescence of a 'live' performance and the true spirit of Die Frau Ohne Schatten. The names on the Solti set is more famous - Domingo, for instance, who is the most recorded opera singer in the history of opera recording. But this is all marketing gimmick! If you want to listen to a REAL Die Frau Ohne Schatten, get the Sawallisch - this one truly has the 'live' feeling to it!

If you find Strauss' "Die Frau Ohen Schatten" to be as perversely fascinating as I do --the kind of work that often leaves you frustrated and yet continually coming back for more---then you NEED to own this recording!

Sawallisch is in ABSOLUTE control of his massive and unwieldy forces---it's a STUNNING example of the art of conducting! In addition, he and the EMI engineers accomplish the near-impossible: you can follow this recording with a full score and hear ALMOST EVERY SINGLE instrumental detail--it's incredible (and yes, I believe he actually uses TWO celestes as Strauss calls for).

Over the years, I have heard various people criticize this recording because it supposedly lacks the power, violence and sheer intensity that this opera demands. And whereas I don't totally disagree with this view,

I must strongly argue against it.

True, the orchestral sound is somehwat more recessed than the "in your face" Solti/Decca version, but that's exactly why you can hear such an amazing range of orchestral detail, especially when the voices are going full tilt. And, believe me, there is PLENTY of power in the orchestral playing---ie: the absolute manic frenzy of the ACT 1 Scene change (the descent into Earth's lower realm) or the cataclysmic tempest when the BOTE kicks the Nurses' butt out of the kingdom in Act 3.

And I'd like to pose the following question: with all of the dense, complex music contained in this opera, wouldn't you rather hear it laid out in great clarity and detail? Take the very opening of Act 2, which begins with one of those L-O-N-G, harmonically meandering scenes with the Nurse, complete with its tricky cross rhythms. Isn't it preferable to hear the music clearly defined in it's chamber-like textures (a very overlooked aspect of this work) and a well-articulated waltz rhythm, with

the Nurse's vocal line delivered with great clarity and accuracy--as opposed to a MEGA-voice that huffs and puffs through these scenes while totally obliterating Strauss' jewel-like accompaniment? A case can definitely be made for this lighter approach.

And yes, I will admit that the level of singing is variable. The Frau herself has a powerful upper range, but the middle voice is "hooty" and

tired-sounding. But she DOES sound pretty shrewish. Hanna Schwarz as the Nurse is just too darned "Normal" sounding for such a demented character; it's the "AMME as lieder-singer" approach, which is disappointing. And yet, as implied above, she's a fabulous artist, and SINGS everything with amazing accuracy. Albert Muff as Barak has a very appealing intensity and honesty to his performance.

Cheryl Studer is an absolutely radiant Empress, and Rene Kollo still sounds like the real thing in this recording, even though he has to "muscle up" many of his high notes (for some reason, he is MUCH too loud in the big Quartet in the last scene---bad mixing job, guys!)

The BOTE (messenger), a very cool and important part, is sung by a baritone who is much too light and unimposing for the part; too bad.

BUT you keep coming back to the amazing overall quality of this recording, and the way it captures so much of this score's incredible sound world. The "Magic Pavillion" scene in Barak's hut in Act 1 COULD NOT be better represented, and--get this---Sawallisch uses REAL CHILDREN for the tiny fish spirits in ACT 1, and in the final "unborn voices" scene--- it is simply amazing that this could be achieved so perfectly!

You won't believe how MOVING this music can actually be, until you've heard it performed FLAWLESSLY by real kiddies as it is here

(nice "mystical" echo effect, too). And let's not forget the use of a real GLASS-HARMONICA in the orchestra for the final scenes, which the composer wrote for; its alluring and eerie quality is perfectly captured right after the Empress' big "Ich will nicht!" just before her hubby comes back to life. (Sawallisch was able to obtain the services of the great glass-harmonica virtuoso Bruno Hoffmann just for the occasion,

as opposed to the usual substitution of a Vibraphone for the part).

Perhaps the best compliment that can be paid to this recording is this: considering Strauss' own selection of singers for his operas, and his

detailed and fastidious manner of conducting his own works, I think he would have LOVED this recording, and felt that it beautifully represents the opera which he considered his greatest.

Superb conducting (equal to Bohm), very fine sound, and a great, great Nurse. Empress is a judendliche soprano, very fine. Everyone else is forgettable: Muff hasn't any nobility as Barak with his colorless, underpowered voice; the Dyer's Wife has a crone's voice, with screeching on high notes to match; the Emperor is anything but a young sound, with wobbles so wide that time stands still (catch up on email). Even the tiny but essential role of the Falcon is entrusted to a soprano whose dessicated sounds will certainly strike fear in your heart but for the wrong reasons.

Pity the conductor, orchestra and Nurse & Empress --- why did they bother? As for EMI, is it any wonder they've withdrawn from classical recordings with judgements like this?

Avoid unless you've checked this out from the library.

To passably negotiate such a difiicult score surely deserves praise and Sawallisch is more than up to the task. But this opera is such a case of gold amidst dross that it requires special and extraordinary pleading to make its case. Cheryl Studer is wonderful, the rest of the cast far less so. The orchestral playing is dutiful; the project also sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of a well. Stick with the Solti.