Richard Strauss: Daphne [Import]

Fritz Wunderlich (Artist), Paul Schoffler (Artist), Vera Little (Artist), Hilde Guden (Artist), James King (Artist), Richard Strauss (Composer), Karl Böhm (Conductor), Wiener Symphoniker (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Wiener Symphoniker
• Conductor: Karl Böhm
• Composer: Richard Strauss
• Audio CD (September 20, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GMO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,407 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The complete opera on two CDs. Deutsche Grammophon. 1994.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The performance of one's dreams, November 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Richard Strauss: Daphne (Audio CD)

Daphne was dedicated to Karl Bohm by Richard Strauss!!! This is a "live" performance conducted by the dedicatee!! It is a magnificent and sumptuous realization of the genius of Richard Strauss in the opera's score. Bohm keeps the drama moving along and you don't lose interest in the opera at all throughout. The principal singers are in magnificent form. Gueden, who was one of the Vienna State Opera's favorite singers (a member of the prestigious Vienna Ensemble) sings radiantly and lustrously as Daphne. James King's ringing high notes are magnificent. And Wunderlich is perfect. I love this Daphne!! Don't stay at home without it!!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous performance, October 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Richard Strauss: Daphne (Audio CD)

Don't believe people who tell you that Strauss had nothing more to offer in opera besides Der Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Salome, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Ariadne Auf Naxos and Arabella!!

Daphne was dedicated to Bohm himself and what a performance this is!! The performance in 1964 was a sensational success, and here we have it on recording to enjoy it. The recording is in superb stereo with voices clearly recorded. It is complete nonsense to say that the whole of Vienna attended with a flu. There are a couple of coughs, quite normal in a live performance. That's all.

Hilda Guden is a fabulous Daphne, her radiant voice lyrical and expressive, yet with enough power to soar over the orchestra at climaxes. She sings really beautifully. James King tackles the inordinate demands of the part of Apollo with consummate ease. It is as if the part had no difficulties for him. Wunderlich is wonderful - what else can I say. Yes, this is another of Strauss' marvellous operas - a bucolic tragedy in one act (yes, another one act tragedy). Bohm keeps the music moving along so that there isn't any part that drags at all.

It is really weird that Daphne is not performed as frequently as it should. I suppose that people are so absorbed by operas like Der Rosenkavalier, Elektra, Salome that they forget that Strauss wrote many other incredible operas, all with beautiful voice parts and orchestral backdrop.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Daphne is a great opera, September 22, 2004

By 

M. Mclain "liqwidfrog" (VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Richard Strauss: Daphne (Audio CD)

Much has been said about the tremendous quality of this performance... I won't reiterate it except to say that if there were a thousand recordings of this opera, this would easily still be the best. As it stands, there aren't a thousand, there aren't very many at all, and that's a shame. Strauss has the reputation of being a retroacitve composer; some say he wrote two great modern operas and then lost it, others say four or five, with a sudden burst of greatness at the end with Cappriccio and the four last songs.
It's becoming more apparent that Strauss had much more to offer us than just Rosenkavalier. While many people criticize the librettos after Hofmannsthal's death, one really should keep in mind what we are comparing here. Considering that the later librettos are being compared to one of the greatest of German poets and the master Oscar Wilde (whose Salome was altered very little and to great effect), one could perhaps have a more forgiving attitude. Certainly the Libretto to Daphne is not bad; no worse than most operas, although lacking a little in excitement and explosive scenes.
The music, however, is absolutely incredible. There are moments that are every bit as intense as Elektra or Salome, and other moments that are even more restrained than Capriccio. It is also a return to tragedy for Strauss, after the succession of comic or at the most tragic-comdedic (after all, Die Frau Ohne Schatten does have a happy ending). If one does not feel comfortable comparing it to the so called great Strauss operas, it has to be at least admitted as a great opera (more so for the music than the libretto). In a way it's similar to the great operas like Cosi fan Tutte, Parsifal, Falstaff and most of Puccini's work after Butterfly, in that it is great, and unfairly overshadowed by works that are more popular and sometimes not as brilliant.
It's also important to remember that Strauss never retreated from dissonance and modernism, anymore than Puccini did either. Because the subject of Rosenkavalier is Mozart era Austria, and because the dissonance is applied in a subtler way, people make the mistake of thinking it is retroactive. If you don't believe this, listen again to the theme associated with the Silver Rose... it's quite dreamy, but it is also removed from the key of the music supporting it. And so on for all of his operas, including Daphne. I should also recommend all the Bohm/Strauss recordings in this series; this man could do Strauss' music, and if you have any doubts about the quality of his music, these are the recordings to get.