Strauss - Elektra / Polaski, Meier, A. Marc, Botha, Struckmann, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim

Richard Strauss (Performer), Staatskapelle Berlin (Performer), Daniel Barenboim (Orchestra), Deborah Polaski (Artist), Waltraud Meier (Artist), Alessandra Marc (Artist), Johan Botha (Artist), Falk Struckmann (Artist), Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Richard Strauss, Staatskapelle Berlin
• Orchestra: Daniel Barenboim
• Audio CD (June 4, 1996)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000000SRU
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,223 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Elektra: Wo bleibt Elektra?

2. Elektra: Ich will vor ihr mich niederwerfen

3. Elektra: Allein! Weh, ganz allein (Elektra)

4. Elektra: Elektra! - Ah, das Gesicht! (Chrysothemis, Elektra)

5. Elektra: Ich kann nicht sitzen und ins Dunkel starren (Chrysothemis, Elektra)

6. Elektra: Es geht ein Larm los (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

7. Elektra: Was willst du, Seht doch, dort! (Klytamnestra, Elektra)

8. Elektra: Ich will nichts horen! (Klytamnestra)

9. Elektra: Ich habe keine guten Nachte (Klytamnestra, Elektra)

10. Elektra: Wenn das rechte Blutopfer unterm Beile fallt (Elektra, Klytamnestra)

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Elektra: Orest! Orest ist tot! (Chrysothemis, Elektra)

2. Elektra: Nun muss es hier von uns geschehn (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

3. Elektra: Wie stark du bist (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

4. Elektra: Von jetzt an will ich deine Schwester sein (Elektra, Chrysothemis)

5. Elektra: Nun denn, allein! (Elektra, Orest)

6. Elektra: Wer bist denn du? - Was kummert's dich (Orest, Elektra)

7. Elektra: Orest! (Elektra, Orest)

8. Elektra: Du wirst es tun, Allein? (Elektra, Orest)

9. Elektra: Seid ihr von Sinnen (Elektra)

10. Elektra: Es muss etwas geschehen sein (Chrysothemis)

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Any cut version loses 1 star automatically - Barenboim incl., March 21, 2002

By 

Alexander Z. Damyanovich (Flesherton, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strauss - Elektra / Polaski, Meier, A. Marc, Botha, Struckmann, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim (Audio CD)

From hearing the samples, this seemed to be a very winsome recording of the opera. The principals all are most competent, with a beautiful tone-quality with Deborah Polaski in the title-rôle (almost sounds at times like Birgit Nilsson, when heard over the relatively lo-fi sound available through a computer with those small speakers...). The same can be said of Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra, and the care they pay to the notes they sing definitely reaps lovely results. Barenboim really is a star with his tempi and the grand yet muscular (though also at times ravishing) orchestral sound he gets from the Berlin Staatskapelle.

So why does this recording NOT get a full 5-star report? For some unknown reason (excepting Solti and perhaps Sawallisch - and in the case of Solti, he {with the help of recording director John Culshaw and Regina Resnik as Klytämnestra} was barely able to finally cajole Birgit Nilsson into finally agreeing to record the complete version!!), the cuts omitted in most or all live stage-performances keep on being excised from most recordings - and selection 3 from Disc 2 misses some lovely stuff right on the spot. Given that the whole opera is less than two hours long, while cuts may be possibly understandable under live conditions, for recordings they're absolutely _unacceptable_!!!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Such a Frenzy!!!, March 4, 2003

By 

Guntram (PR,Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strauss - Elektra / Polaski, Meier, A. Marc, Botha, Struckmann, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim (Audio CD)

An inventive,terrific masterpiece like'"Elektra" demands
an qualified performance and here,we have a truly Barenboim
GOAL!He hold the bull's horns and relishes the hailstorm
of violence and blood in the score.I never,never was a fan
of him but just because I have many "Elektras",this one
threw me back to the first time I heard the opera.Polaski
is a so fierce animal(I'll never marry a woman like she!)
and,even when she doesn't sing notes in the precise time,
it makes the music even more savage.She sticks top notes
courageously and this is so important on her scene with
Klytamnestra.I can't describe the Waltraud Meier's performance
here.Her big roar on murder scene,so real,...Listen yourself,
read Strauss's wishes to this character's interpreter and
kneel down yourself at Meier temple.Struckmann has his big voice
to sing a princely Orestes,the only decisive male part in whole opera.Guys,five big stars to all of these great
artists and,enjoy yourselves all this frenzy!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, but heavily cut, February 26, 2006

By 

MartinP "MartinP" (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strauss - Elektra / Polaski, Meier, A. Marc, Botha, Struckmann, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim (Audio CD)

A wonderful set with a fatal flaw. The playing is gorgeous, the singing often spine-chillingly good (except Barenboim's), and the recording is more than adequate - not ideally detailed, but rich and weighty (great bass drum!). The overall atmosphere is tense, but the listener is not battered with the unvaried hysteria encountered in the Solti/Nilsson edition. This Elektra shows up family ties with Salomé, and has its mellow moments.

But. There really isn't a single excuse to make cuts in this one-act opera, that is of only moderate duration anyway. Let alone FIVE cuts, most of them substantial, as is the case here. The latter half of the recognition scene is chucked out, as is half of Elekra's enticements when she tries to get her sister involved in her murderous plans - so that her final curse falls upon the listener (and Chrysosthemis) rather out of the blue. It is unforgivable, and as far as I am concerned makes this set uncompetitive. More so in the presence of the extraordinary, and complete, recording by Bychkov on Hänssler, which has set new standards for this work.