Richard Strauss - Arabella / Kiri Te Kanawa, ROH, Tate

Richard Strauss (Composer), Jeffrey Tate (Conductor), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Orchestra), Kiri Te Kanawa (Performer), Franz Grundheber (Performer), Gabriele Fontana (Performer), Helga Dernesch (Performer), Peter Seiffert (Performer), Gilles Cachemaille Reinhild Runkel (Performer), Kurt Rydl Gwendolyn Bradley (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Kiri Te Kanawa, Franz Grundheber, Gabriele Fontana, Helga Dernesch, Peter Seiffert, et al.
• Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
• Conductor: Jeffrey Tate
• Composer: Richard Strauss
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca (Universal)
• ASIN: B00000E3AG
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,477 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Die Karten fallen besser als das letzte Mal - Reinhild Runkel

2. Sie wollen alle Geld! - Gabriele Fontana

3. Matteo! - Gabriele Fontana

4. Ich danke, Fraulein - Kiri Te Kanawa

5. Er ist der Richtige, nicht fur mich! - Kiri Te Kanawa

6. Aber der Richtige, wenns einen gibt fur mich auf dieser Welt - Kiri Te Kanawa

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Das ist ein Engel, der vom Himmel niedersteigt! - Franz Grundheber

2. Sie wolln mich heiraten, sagt mein Vater - Kiri Te Kanawa

3. Ich habe eine Frau gehabt, sehr schon, sehr engelsgut - Franz Grundheber

4. Sie wolln mich heiraten, sagt mein Vater - Kiri Te Kanawa

5. Und du wirst mein Gebieter sein, und ich dir untertan - Kiri Te Kanawa

6. Die Wiener Herrn verstehn sich auf die Astronomic - Gwendolyn Bradley

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Einleitung - N/A

2. Uber seine Felder wird der Wagen fahren - Kiri Te Kanawa

3. Sie hier? So muB ich fragen, Arabella! - Peter Seiffert

4. Welch ein erregtes Tete-a-tete im Stiegenhaus! - Helga Dernesch

5. Papa, so schau mir ins Gesicht! - Kiri Te Kanawa

6. Ich gratuliere Ihnen, Herr Leutnant - Franz Grundheber

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Te Kanawa Shines as Arabella, December 1, 2004

By 

Scott Jelsey "tscott2" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Richard Strauss - Arabella / Kiri Te Kanawa, ROH, Tate (Audio CD)

Arabella is one of Te Kanawa's best roles and this recording finds her near her peak, the voice effortlessly produced over a wide range, the tone full and creamy. Some find her interpretation of Arabella somewhat understated, but I think she perfectly captures Arabella's outwardly sophisticated, reserved nature, with the passion held at bay. The closing scene is quite wonderful - a real tear jerker! Fontana is not as glamourous vocally, but seems to inhabit Zdenka and make her live. She blends well with Te Kanawa in the duets. Grunheber is quite excellent in all respects - a Mandryka to fall in love with. Seiffert is the only tenor I know that really makes something of Matteo. A fine performance both vocally and dramatically. Tate leads a somewhat broad performance, which works well in this opera, emphasizing the romantic aspects nicely. The recorded sound is virtually perfect. A must have for Straussians.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inexcusably unavailable, August 3, 2007

By 

Ralph Lara "opera fanatic" (Miami Shores, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Richard Strauss - Arabella / Kiri Te Kanawa, ROH, Tate (Audio CD)

Dame Kiri te Kanawa is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest Strauss sopranos of our day, indeed of all time. I just can't understand why Decca has deleted both her Arabella and her Capriccio sets. These are signature roles for Dame Kiri - she is indeed renowned for them - and the recordings capture her at or near her best, circa late 80s-early 90s. She is supported by other great performers in both sets and the sound quality is excellent. The market isn't crowded with fine recordings of these beautiful operas, so these deletions are quite hard to understand or to forgive, particularly because these are Dame Kiri's only recordings of these operas. I can only imagine that the people who run classical record companies these days just don't know or care much about music, only about profits. It's as ludicrous as if they were to delete Callas' Tosca or Sutherland's Lucia di Lammermoor (which wouldn't surprise me any more). I can't tell you how many times I have searched for essential recordings that surely MUST be in the catalogue only to find, much to my surprise and dismay, that they are out of print - sometimes for several years - with not much hope of reissue. For example, Decca has already deleted the legendary, indispensable Rosenkavalier conducted by Erich Kleiber, a set from their "Legends" series (!) that only appeared a couple of years ago. Yet every single atrocious and misguided effort by mediocrities such as Andrea Bocelli is readily available forever. We live in sad times. Bring back these great recordings, please!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Library Basic", January 1, 2009

By 

Good Stuff "noreasonableofferrefused" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Richard Strauss - Arabella / Kiri Te Kanawa, ROH, Tate (Audio CD)

This is one of those increasingly rare recordings that should be in just about every music lover's collection that includes opera. That Decca has seen fit to delete it from the catalog simply astounds. We aren't talking about the dribs and drabs of everyday life here. This is te Kanawa singing Richard Strauss, for God sake.

Get a copy of it, listen to it, fall in love with it, and then sock it away somewhere safe. If Decca doesn't get it back out pretty quickly, you're going to find yourself in possession of something worth a bloody fortune!