Product Details

• Actors: Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Donald McIntyre, James Levine
• Format: Classical, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: December 22, 1992
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300217841
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,272 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's hard to imagine confirmed Straussians not wanting this starry Metropolitan Opera performance of Elektra. Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannstahl, transformed Sophocles' take on Homer's tale into a harrowing opera noir. Elektra lives for one reason, to kill her mother, Klytämnestra, and her stepfather, Aegisth, the murderers of her father, Agamemnon. In contrast to Elektra's vengeful obsession, her sister Chrysothemis desires to get on with life. When their long-missing brother, Orestes, returns to do the deed, Elektra celebrates with a dance of death and, her sole purpose in life fulfilled, dies. Strauss joined the hermetic plot to music of the utmost opulence, violent and yearning by turns, evoking the cardinal principles of Greek tragedy - pity and terror.

This Met performance from February 1980 is notable for the playing of the orchestra, itself a major factor in any performance of Elektra, and for the three female leads. James Levine's conducting is full of passion, lyrical when it needs to be, but crushingly powerful in the big moments. Strauss' orchestration sometimes becomes chamber music-delicate, eloquently done by the orchestra. Birgitt Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek were the leading Elektra and Chrysothemis of the day. Nilsson was in her 62nd year, still singing well, even in such a demanding role that taxes singers half her age. But despite small signs that she's husbanding her vocal resources and hints of wavering pitch that indicate tiring, she gives an overwhelmingly intense performance. The booklet notes say that Rysanek was ill with a 102 degree fever, but there's no indication of it in either her singing or her passionate acting as. Mezzo Mignon Dunn, the Klytämnestra, was a Met mainstay for 35 years, and if she lacked the superstar status of Nilsson and Rysanek she more than holds her own here, virtually dominating the stage in her scenes and fully capturing the character's pain and frustration. If the men are not quite up to these three formidable ladies, that's par for the Elektra course.

The single set is of the dimly lit palace courtyard, identifiable as a place where bad things will happen. Herbert Graf's production and Paul Mills' stage direction are conventional, unimpeded by directorial novelty or conceptual misfires. Brian Large's video direction is not as effective or polished as his other Met productions; some moments obscured by darkness, others subverted by too-tight close-ups. The sound is also below the best that could be achieved in 1980, but good enough to do justice to the singing and the orchestra. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming performance(s)!, August 17, 2001

By 

D. J. Edwards "donaldjedwards" (Cheshire, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard Strauss - Elektra / James Levine, Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, MET (DVD)

This Elektra took on legendary proportions before it was performed! The cast has not been surpassed although a broadcast several years ago with Behrens, Fassbaender and Voigt was also a compellng performance. I was at that perfomrance(also a matinee). I didn't have the good fortune to have been at the Nilsson Elektra. Dunn and Rysanek prove to be Nilsson's equals. What I wouldn't give for the likes of this cast today. The most emotionally draining performance on dvd. The word event is wasted on many mindless performances. This is an EVENT! Met orchestra and Levine perform out of their minds. The only word is superb. This belongs on every shelf in every opera lovers' home. That the audience carried on for over twenty minutes at the curtains fall tells you something. Buy it and don't loan it to anyone........

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Document of a Memorable Occasion, April 4, 2001

By 

Scott Holmes (Wilmette, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Richard Strauss - Elektra / James Levine, Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, MET (DVD)

This performance of Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera is a wonderful momento of Birgit Nilsson's final performance in a complete opera at the MET. The matinee performance of February 16, 1980 proves visually what recording afficionados who own Ms. Nilsson's recording of Elektra have known for years: Nilsson is without competition in this role. Granted, this performance is late Nilsson and there are some pitch problems as well as some straightness of tone in alt -- small flaws in an otherwise shattering performance. Leonie Rysanek is said to have had a fever of nearly 102f that day, but as a favor to her esteemed collegue, went on anyway to give an equally committed performance. I cannot recommend this video highly enough. For those of us whose generation knew Birgit Nilsson to BE the greatest Elektra of her time, this DVD must make it's way into every serious opera collector's collection. Mignon Dunn is in fine voice as Klytemnestra and acts the role with great depth of emotion and character without caricature. Add the superb playing of the MET orchestra under James Levine -- and how can you miss. If only Miss Nilsson's Salome and Dyer's Wife in Frau Ohne Schatten had been committed to video as well. Buy it, buy it, buy it!

47 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birgit is a HOSS...whew, August 11, 2002

By 

Clinton D. Davis (Norman, OK United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard Strauss - Elektra / James Levine, Birgit Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, MET (DVD)

I'm usually the kinda rare opera person who is actually very annoyed with people who exult in the singers far more than they do the actual music they are singing, but Good GOD! Birgit Nilsson's Elektra is so outstanding that the opening monologue can actually captivate my 22-year-old fraternity brothers into taking a seat when they come over and I'm indulging my decandent musical tastes. Is there any greater praise for an opera recording than that? And yes, it is engineered VERY VERY softly, but if you have a DVD player, you probably have a stereo system to hook it up to, and for this DVD you'll definitely need it. But once its all hooked up, and the volume's up, and the curtain rises, GIT READY...the neighbors will holler, the dogs will howl, and you won't even notice because its all so fabulous. I can't imagine what an amazing night of theatre this was for those who were there live. The only thing that is even mildly distracting is the bad 80's production..I mean come on, those short-shorts on Orestes are NOT necessary. In spite of the soft sound and the fashion faux pas, the singing is magnificent, the acting is compelling, and the conducting from an old yawner like Levine is actually quite wonderful for once (I'm still cursing his name after that barky-bark, triple-chinned PBS Tristan fiasco last year). So get the DVD, indulge and enjoy, and light a candle for Ms. Nilsson so that maybe she'll incarnate again in some Germanic country REAL soon. We love you, Birgit!