Customer Reviews

Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dedicated Strauss lovers, or those for whom Ariadne is a favourite opera, will naturally have preferences for this or that recording. They will, indeed, presumably have several recordings, each for a different reason. In France, Karajan's EMI version with Schwarzkopf is considered the absolute benchmark ; but many in the UK, for example, find Schwarzkopf mannered and will always remind you that she couldn't sing the role on stage; and there are those (unaccountably perhaps) who believe Seefried couldn't sing a single note right. You might buy Bohm's live for the pleasure of hearing Hilde Guden as Zerbinetta, but have the distinct feeling that it was an off night for the usually peerless Lisa della Casa, whose lower range on this live is disconcertingly reminiscent of Anna Russell parodying Wagner (though I should immediately add that her upper register is as glorious as ever). Jessye Norman's Ariadne, impressive to say the least, is probably one of her best recordings, but as we see elsewhere on this page, Edita Gruberova is not to everyone's taste. There's no satisfying everyone, it seems.

These same Strauss specialists will naturally compare Sinopoli's new version with the others and find good points and bad, depending largely on their taste in conductors and singers. Has Ben Heppner left it a little late to record the role? How well would he, or Von Otter, project in the opera house rather than in front of a microphone? Those who have heard Natalie Dessay live know that recording somehow doesn't do her voice and acting skills justice (although this recording is the best of hers I've yet heard). But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth! In an age of constant complaints that there are no competent singers left and when new versions of operas frequently add nothing whatsoever to the existing catalogue, this set should be welcomed as an outstanding achievement. For the specialists, it will not replace other versions of an opera which, as is often the case with the Strauss "majors," is well served on disc, but it must surely join them for bringing together an exceptional contemporary cast, for the superb achievement (almost an understatement!) of the Dresden players, and for the beautifully detailed recording: listening on headphones, I for one discovered a wealth of detail in the score I'd never heard before.

Presumably many people searching through this web site, rather than being specialists out to compare versions, are looking to buy and get to know Ariadne for the first time, and reading the reviews to see if this is a version they might purchase. The answer, without hesitation, is yes, with this set you cannot go far wrong.

Some of the previous Amazon.com reviews of this set are pretty sour and begrudging - I think you have to be rather spoiled not to appreciate the standard of singing, playing and interpretation in this, Sinopoli's operatic recording swansong. I am not saying that you should endorse it simply because it was the final opera recording of a great conductor; I think it can stand on its own without sentimentality. The "Gramophone" reviewer was similarly snooty about the supposed "coldness" of this interpretation, (even though he admitted that that the cast was as spectacular as you could assemble today) but I don't hear it that way. I love the old Kempe recording of this entrancing opera, with Janowitz, Zylis-Gara and Sylvia Geszty, but not even the divine Gundula can sing the highest notes with the ease and purity that Voigt brings to this majestic role. The orchestra is the same in both recordings and the Staatskapelle is wonderful in both - but the extra clarity and depth of sound in the newer recording really permits the listener to hear the nuances and detail of Sinopoli's direction - and they make such a full, rich sound in those magical closing pages, for a mere thirty players.

As much as I admire James King, he does not bring Ben Heppner's refulgence of tone to the killer tenor role of Bacchus. Heppner and Dessay, like Voigt, almost make it sound easy - and perhaps that is why some reviewers accuse them of being "faceless" in their characterisation. I don't find it so; it's such a pleasure to hear three great voices in top form. Perhaps Dessay is too gentle and seductive as Zerbinetta - a tad more acid would not go amiss - but she is witty and knowing, as she should be. The supporting roles are beautifully taken, too; Von Otter sounds more vivid than I have heard her elsewhere; there is an artist whom I admit to finding bland, sometimes - but not here. Particularly fine are Stefan Genz's pointed, elegant singing as Harlekin and Albert Dohmen's rich tones as the Music Master.

I am no fan of Schwarzkopf's mannered, overpointed style and the old Karajan recording is mono, so you cannot enjoy the orchestra colours as fully as in this atmospheric DG set. I love the 1968 Kempe account, mainly for the creamy, soaring purity of Janowitz and Zylis-Gara's adorable Composer, and would not be without it - but this is the best recommendation if you want one set only.

I don't understand why some reviewers would give this magnificent recording less than five stars, because the cast, the conductor, and the orchestra are caught at the top of their game! Even if Giuseppe Sinopoli were replaced by a lesser conductor and the orchestra had been the Bavarian Radio or the RAI Symphony, the vocal forces assembled around this Ariadne are simply sensational! Best of the lot is Deborah Voigt's Ariadne, who is in my opinion the best soprano to have ever sung the part. It lacks the self-conscious, academic interpretation of Schwarzkopf and the indulgent jazz swoops of Jessye Norman, but that is all for the better considering how Voigt gets into the part of the character. Her luscious, silvery, creamy voice works wonders for the part of the prima donna, and her Ariadne is sung with a sense of Grecian abandon unheard in sopranos before her. I would say that this perhaps is the best recording of her discography, and brava to Deborah Voigt for making a specialty out of this role!

Voigt is partnered by the likes of Ben Heppner, Dessay, Von Otter, and Dohmen, artists of a prime calibre who are able to bring an interpretive grain to their music. Ben Heppner's large, heroic timbre fits Bacchus' high-lying, difficult music perfectly, and it is wonderful to know that he has finally overcome that vocal crisis of his so that he can once again share that voice of his with us. I don't think I've ever heard Bacchus sung better by any tenor except James King. Natalie Dessay is a three-dimensional Zerbinetta with sexiness, naughtiness, and warmth, and she is also equipped with all the coloratura in the world to perform the part's difficult pyrotechnics. Her transformation in the opera is a portrayal of this great artist's skill in turning this essentially cardboard role into a character full of life, wisdom, and compassion. I would take her Zerbinetta any day over Gruberova! Von Otter is sensational as the Composer, her chiaroscuro timbre portraying the polar temperament of this character. Although she would never erase the memories of Tatiana Troyanos, von Otter is nonetheless a prime interpreter of the part with a knack for uncovering the dramatic nuances of the part. Albert Dohmen is a vocally endowed music-master, better than the dry-voiced Fischer-Dieskau in his recording with Masur.

Of course, this recording would not achieve its legendary status without Sinopoli and the Dresden forces, perhaps the greatest Straussian orchestra in the world. Sinopoli conducts the score with outstanding clarity, movement, and verve, every instrument speaking out of the pages with an Italianate passion that only he could bring to the score. Oh that we would hope that he had lived longer to conduct Die Liebe der Danae with this team!

In short, this recording is highly recommended!

When this was first released I thought all my Christmases had come at once. One of my favourite operas with my favourite conductor with a ripsnorter of an orchestra and the best singers for the roles you could possibly find ( I had been dying to hear Von Otter sing the Composer)all recorded with DG sonic splendour.

So what went wrong? It is very hard to put your finger on because all the ingredients seem to be there. There is so much fine singing. Deborah Voight is a marvel, as always. Heppner makes the daunting role of Bacchus sound like a walk in the park as does Dessay with Zerbinetta. Maybe that is the problem. There is definately a lack of involvement with the performance from all concerned to the extent that it is difficult to emotionally connect to the drama. Listen to the little love duet with Zerbinetta and the Composer "Ein Augenblick". One of the most tender and magical moments of the opera, is flat. It is not just the singing, the orchestral accompaniment, while precise, is uninspiring. It is the total opposite from your normal Sinopoli recording where listeners are split over there being too much emotion.

The three great arias are also underwhelming which is puzzling considering the singing is of such a high quality. I am afraid the quality must lie with Sinopoli, and you don't know how much it hurts me to say that.

I return to this recording frequently, if only to hear these voices in the role and I do often find more to like, but it is in fits and starts. There are several great recordings available if you are new to this work and want to discover its weird but wonderful magic. Try Kempe, Karajan, Masur or Davis (DVD) or Solti (if you can put up with Price's swooping, worth it for Troyanos) .

This recording, features four of my very favourite singers, so it would have to be pretty awful for me not to give it a five-star rating. I'm surprised, though to see some rather hostile reviews on these pages, as I must say I found it wonderful. It's not in the best taste to emblazon "Sinopoli's last recording" across the front of the box, but it is true and thankfully it is a fitting record of this ever-fascinating conductor.

My previous recording of choice was Kleiber (Janowitz utterly pellucid in the title role, Jess Thomas a heroic bacchus, Getzy a girlish but thinnish Zerbinetta) which had the chamber proportions of the piece perfectly represented. None of that here - we are in lush, big-house Strauss territory, but as is always the case Sinopoli looks beyond the lushness of the overarching melodies and gets into the fabric of the music. All of the witty details and leitmotifs are given their due. He allows plenty of space - some really expansive tempi - at lyrical moments but, as at the end of the prologue, really keeps things moving at other times. The recording quality is without fault, and the recording repays repeated listenings for the quality of the Dresden Stadtskapelle's playing. I have seldom heard the opera played with more refinement and skill.

As for the singers: well, it's a hand-picked cast and would be hard to better on record today. Casting this opera in the theatre is another matter - how would burly Ben Heppner's Bacchus look in person? Here he sounds thrilling, his beefy tenor riding with ease the strangling tessitura. No surprise to anyone who has heard his Enee, Lohengrin or Tristan, but glorious nonetheless. Deborah Voigt has practially taken posession of the role of Ariadne today, alongside most other Strauss heroines besides, and she sounds better here than as Sinopoli's Chrysothemnis. Steady, shining of tone and even from top to bottom. Especially at the bottom, actually - some spine-chilling moments in "Ein Schones war". More flexible than a Norman, more shining than a Price, more ample than a Schwarzkopf - altogether lovely. Dessay reminds us that there is more to Zerbinetta than her big solo in the Opera, which she could probably sing standing on her head, and sounds fuller and more womanly than most others, especially Battle (who has too tiny a voice) and Gruberova (who, in her later recording, sounds mannered and pert - and doesn't always sing in tune). She is at her best in the prologue, when her seduction of the composer is heart-stopping. Said composer is Von Otter on blazing form, the voice solid and secure as ever, the character's impetuosity and sensuality sketched with great skill. And she copes as well as any mezzo ever has in this cruel role.

No real stand-outs in the rest of the cast but no weak links either - but all in all it is a great record of Sinopoli's Strauss and has some glorious singing. Highly recommended.

This is a lovely recording with first-rate singing and outstanding orchestral work. Deborah Voigt's tone and phrasing are outstanding. As commented by one of the prior reviewers, she makes this part sound effortless, a real compliment given the notorious difficulty of Strauss soprano parts. The other soloists, particularly the consistently excellent Von Otter and Heppner, are just as good. I particularly like the orchestra's rich and sometimes shimmering sound. While Rosenkavalier is Strauss's most popular opera and Elektra is arguably his most innovative opera, I think Ariadne contains the best music of all his operas.

Strauss's chamber opera, preceded by a theatrical spoof as a first act, has had devoted -- even besotted -- admirers since it first appeared. There have been half a dozen notable recordings in the modern era, but I think only four are serious rivals for top place. Let me give the pluses and minuses of each as fairly as I can.

1954 Karajan (EMI) - The Karajan set hasn't been out of print for over fifty years, and its two biggest pluses are unarguable: a dream cast of hand-picked singers and the young Karajan's superb conducting. Schwarzkopf gives one of her greatest performances in the title role, a miracle of technique and characterization. All the other roles match hers in theatricalaity and freshness. Rita Streich amazes with her accuracy and briliance in the coloratura role of Zerbinetta. The weak link (this will become a familiar theme) is the tenor who must engage the voice-killing role of Bacchus. Rudolf Schock sounds tight and strained, but overall he's doing as good a job as all but the very best.
The minues are few, consisting mainly of the boxy, dry mono sound that remastering can't disguise. At least EMI has managed to remove some shirlliness from the high frequencies, and one can say that the final product is quite listenable.

1987 Levine (DG) - I am skipping ovver a Sixties recording under Kempe (EMI) that some critics rate very high. I much prefer James Levine, who made the first recording of Ariadne on CD. He leads members of the Vienna Phil. in a sweet-toned, deliberately paced reading that is quite sumptuous. His cast mirrors a very good night at either the Met or the Vienna State Opera. Tomova-Sintov gives her all dramatically as Ariadne, and despite some vocal strain, she triumphs in the role of the vulnerable stranded heroine. Even better is Kathleen Battle as the most coquettish and sweet-voiced of Zerbinettas. Levine had picked Gary Lakes as his Siegmund in Walkure, but the Texas heldentenor was never a star. Here he's quite good, however, as Bacchus, despite some tightness in the upper range.
There are no serious minuses. The unremastered digital sound tends to be a bit metallic and shrill in the upper ranges, but not seriously so.

1988 Masur (Philips) -- Coming so soon after Levine's set, Masur's is equally impressive overall, even if it's not the last word in theatricality. The conducting is solid Kapellmeister work without being brilliant, yet Masur has an ace in the hole with the recorded sound, which is airy, detailed, and delicious -- no rival comes close. His Leipzig Gewandhaus musicians play with refinement and delicacy, making up for Masur's occasional lack of dramatic thrust. The cast is dominated by the stellar Ariadne of Jesseye Norman, the only modern soprano to give Schwarzkopf a run for her money. As always, Norman doesn't bother to offer much in the way of character -- she lets her sumptous, effortless singing carry the day, and it does. Her Bacchus is the effective but hardly great Canadian heldentenor Paul Frey, who otherwise never had much of a recorded career. Edita Gruberova was an authoritative Zerbinetta on stage; I find her a bit edgy and shrill, however. Special mention should be made of the famous husband-and-wife team, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady, who are outstanding as the Music Master and Composer (Varady is surprisingly successful at bringing a sosprano voice to a role usual taken by mezzos).
The minuses are negligible. For me the pacing is a bit staid, and I wish Norman were more than a glorious voice.

2001 Sinopoli (DG) - This set was released just after Sinopoli's premature death while conducting Aida in Berlin, and it's a fitting tribute to his vivid, imaginative way with Strauss. Acclaimed for his Salome with Cheryl Studer (DG), Sinopoli is jsut as good with Ariadne. His singers are the second 'dream cast' that this fortunate opera has received over the years. As a pair, the Ariadne and Bacchus have never been bettered. Deborah Voigt has a perfect Strauss voice, and Ben Heppner delivers a thrilling Bacchus that is far ahead of the competition for ease, sweetness, and musicality. Voigt can't match Schwarzkopf in dramatic authority, but the sheer sound that these two singers make is ravishing. The supporting cast is nearly flawless, and althoiugh I don't respond especially to Natalie Dessay's Zerbinetta, finding it more a technical feat than a lovable coquette, she is exemplary in the role.
In my view there are no minuses to this set. One can nitpick that certain singers aren't the very best in their roles, yet they all come close.

The final result, then, is that any lover of this unique opera should try to own two versions, the classic 1954 Karajan, particularly for Schwarzkopf's matchless contribution, and the 2001 Sinopoli, the closest modern equivalent to the Karajan. I can't narrow the competition down to just one winner, because some listeners won't be able to tolerate the boxy mono sound of the Karajan, while others may be set against Sinopoli on principle because he is too individual and willful. In any case, Ariadne has been amazingly well srved on CD. Few if any other Strauss operas have received four recordings of such high quality.

I have heard to most of the Ariadne recordings repeatedly for years, since I love this opera. I have enjoyed Karajan's sumptuous reading, Kempe's elegant reading, and Solti's, as clear and accurate as everything he left us. The singers in those three recordings were superb. But listening to Dessay singing Zerbinetta's rondo, as well as Voigt and Heppner singing the final duet is an entirely new experience, for no one before had achieved such splendid and effortless singing. Specially Heppner has no antecedent, for no tenor before had recorded the extremely difficult Bacchus part displaying such purity of tone and generosity of full sound. I have reconciled with the tenor voice, and I think that would Strauss live nowadays, would he himself reconcile too. Dessay sings and interprets, she trills as a goddess and phrases as an accomplished actress, can one ask for more? Voigt makes one believe that Ariadne is an easy part to sing. The others are all well casted, and Sinopoli's concertation is one of his best. In few words: don't miss the opportunity to hear to this recording if you love this opera. And if you still don't know this opera, listen to it very carefully, perhaps you will notice that it is a microcosmos of opera of every time.

This Ariadne deserves the most resounding applause just because it gathers one of the most beautiful Strauss' music ever,perfect singers to their parts,fine engineers at Lukas'church and an insuperable performance of this score by Sinopoli.Previous rewiews tell us enough about the conductor,Voigt,Heppner,...I would like to add up some greetings to this so sweet Harlekin singing by Stephan Genz(what a gorgeous "Lieben,Hassen"!)and his valuable understanding on Strauss' chamber music lines to this character.Likewise,three very clever nymphs standing out trumpeters "Nymphen zogen ihn auf!",that so shining Bacchus entrance(of course,fast tempo by Sinopoli providing that).I believe that comparisons must be avoided just because this recording is a really first class one.However,in spite of very qualified Dessay's singing,I still think Kathleen Battle just enlighten Zerbinetta's complexities to the world.What a pity there're her Met live performance only.

If you like R. Strauss, and this particular opera, then you are going to LOVE this recording. It is truly has the best voices, symphony and conductor I have ever heard doing Ariadne. The vendor sent it to me promptly , and I am thrilled to own it !