Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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_!!!

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!

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.

Barenboim leads the Dresden Staatskapelle in a growling, wholly enthralling reading of Strauss' flawless score. The gripping frenzy of the orchestra under the assured direction of Barenboim is an incredible sonic experience. Elektra's soliloquy has the kind of visceral punch to make you really sit up and take notice. I was totally blown away by this dramatic reading, the urgency unnerving. Deborah Polaski sings the role well (not good enough to erase memories of Behrens, Nilsson or the mighty Borkh), as do the other singers, especially Meier (she's very good, but Resnik owns the role and, therefore, comparison's are inevitable). But as previously stated, in this recording, the orchestra's the one that will make you return time and again. Barenboim is not a consistently gifted conductor, far from it, but when he gets it right, as he does here, it's a wonderful experience. I have no less than four complete recordings of "Elektra" all wonderful, but this one has that kind of raw, rhythmic energy that not even Solti and Bohm managed to produce.

One gets used to the five-star brigade descending from the clouds, but this Elektra from 1996 misses on all cylinders. Deborah Polaski is very approximate in pitch and phrasing; her big, ungainly voice is being used mostly for sound -- there is practically no hint of dramatic characterization. The role is very demanding, but we've been lucky to have riveting dramatic performances from Inge Borkh, Birgit Nilsson, and Gwyneth Jones, all the way back to Rose Pauly in the Thirties. On stage Hildegard Behrens sang a gripping Elektra even though she didn't have the complete voice for it. Without a convincing lead singer, the rest is more or less doomed.

But Allesandra Marc is just as generic as Chrysothemis, and the Orest of Felix Struckmann is boomy and inert; he could be shouting the classified ads. Only Waltraud Meier as Klytemnestra makes a favorable impression, but that role is a shoo-in for any messzo willing to amp up neurotic viciousness. On the podium Barenboim has made the fatal decision to choose atmosphere over dramatic thrust. Quite often he lingers lovingly when what is wanted is driving fatalism. elektra is one opera where you're not supposed to pause to sniff the roses -- the smell of blood is in the air. As quoted in the Gramophone, Barenboim seems perversely aware of what he's doing: "This complex score needs tremendous transparency - transparency as the equivalent of perspective in art." A previous reviewer thinks that the orchestra is from Dresden, but this is the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the performance derives form a staging that Barenboim conducted in Berlin.

At least the Gramophone reviewer was perceptive enough not to recommend this sad outing.

No one is mentioning Alessandra Marc in their reviews who is a vocal powerhaus and has the most haunting quality to her voice, she's wonderful ...

This recording does not displace the classic Solti version. But it is a winsome version. I like it better than the Sawallisch with Eva Marton. I prefer Deborah Polaski to Eva Marton. However, none of the two could match Birgit Nilsson's prowess. In a sense, Hildegard Behren's 2 versions are even better. Well, Behren's top notes are more radiant and firm than Marton or Polaski. I think Behrens sings better in her second version with Rysanek's incredible Klytamnestra, and her incredible laughter at the end. But Behren's first version has the ever dramatic and characterful Christa Ludwig. I would recommend the Solti as a first version, but this works as well - it's a good performance but not the best. Barenboim does provide his own insights which is different from Solti.