Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Voigt Shines, July 27, 2003
Deborah Voigt has the perfect voice for Helena, as this wonderful new recording shows. She produces a flood of gorgeous, seemingly effortless golden tone, which the role absolutely needs. Voigt is definitely the Stauss soprano of the day. As Menelas, Carl Tanner more than holds his own (a vast improvement over Kastu on the Dorati recording), although it would have been heaven to have Heppner sing the role. An enjoyable performance, none the less. Celena Shafer, a new singer to me, is a real treat as Aithra. Her opening aria toward the beginning of the opera, being only one of many beautiful moments. Jill Grove, who sings regularly with Houston Grand Opera, is sensational as "the Omniscient Seashell" - making a reasonably believable character out of a giant clam! Leo Botstein conducts a sensuous performance of the score, drawing out the many instrumental colors of Strauss' lushly orchestrated opera. Although the 1970's Dorati recording is fine in many ways (I'm a big fan of Gwyneth Jones as well, although she does not possess a traditionally beautiful voice, like Voigt), the tenor, Matti Kastu really ruins that recording for me, so this new release is most welcome.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Helen Vindicated!, July 21, 2003
"The Egyptian Helen" is one of Strauss' least-known, and least- performed operas, and the first major flop of his maturity as a composer (there would be others). Conventional wisdom has always insisted that the work is problematic, lacking a coherant libretto and any strong degree of musical inspiration (Del Mar, in his three-volume biography of Strauss, conceded that much of the score is, what he calls, mere "note spinning"). Yet it remained one of Strauss' favorite works, and Hofmannsthal considered its libretto one of his finest. Until the present release, only one other studio recording has appeared on the market, and it is about time we took a fresh look at this work with a new performance.
And what a performance! Leon Botstein, who treated us with the first studio recording of Strauss' "Die Liebe die Danae" two years ago, proves himself with this recording to be a Strauss conductor of the highest order, with an amazing sensitivity to the nuances of Strauss' particular style. The first act is appropriately sheer and glimmering, with its fairies and elves, and the second act, which is more psychologically penetrating, is handled with a deft dramatic touch.
The cast includes only one big name: Deborah Voigt, and she is superb as Helen, one of Strauss' most technically daunting roles. On the whole, I much prefer her to Gwyneth Jones (on the 1979 Dorati recording); although Jones is a great artist, even by the late 70's her voice was beginning to show signs of a lack of control and a wobble that was going to get progressively worse in the coming years -- none of these defects can be found in the glorious singing of Voigt. She brings Helen to life, and her "Zweite Braut nacht!" (the one number from this opera to become popular in soprano recitals)is ravishing.
The supporting cast is up to the same level, I'm happy to say: Carl Tanner succeeds in the hard-to-bring-off role of Menelas, and Eric Cutler's Da-Ud perfectly naive. Although Celena Schafer sings Aithra with a lovely, clear, faultless soprano, this is one instance where I prefer the Dorati recording, where the role was sung by a young and girlish Barbara Hendricks.
Topping it off, the liner notes are scolarly and enlightening, with a detailed analysis of Hofmannsthal's libretto, which puts to rights many of the criticisms it has received over the years.
On the whole, Botstein and crew make an excellent case for this much-maligned of operas. Perhaps, one day, its delights will be better known to the general opera-going public.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine live performance of Strauss' unfairly neglected opera, July 8, 2004
Since I never heard any other recordings of this opera before, I came to it unprejudiced, with a fresh mind
and ear. I was skeptical at first, the opera being rarely performed, if at all, and generally referred to as the composer's least successful work. Be it as it may, I found the score ravishingly beautiful, owing somewhat to that other mythological opera, Ariadne auf Naxos, and just as gorgeous, but without its commedia dell'arte silliness.
Here we have a stunning new recording, a live concert performance from New York's Avery Fischer Hall and there is an electricity and excitement about it that cannot usually be found in studio recordings. An all American cast of young singers, all in fine voices, adds enthusiasm to the proceedings and Deborah Voigt, perhaps today's greatest of Strauss sopranos , is finest in the performance , but the other singers
are also very satisfactory.The American Symphony Orchestra, founded by Leopold Stokowski, now led by Leon Botstein, plays very well indeed, creating many magical orchestral effects, colours and sonorities and coping well with the enormously rich,intricate score. The finales to acts one and two were superbly done and sent shivers up my spine. I am sure the audience felt the same way and went home satisfied and spiritually enriched.
Perhaps it is unfortunate that none of the singers are German and therefore the pronunciation suffers and the words tend to be blurred out.
TELARC here created a perfectly well balanced , natural and very dynamic sound , bringing out Strauss' magnificent orchestration. It will please the most critical listener and will leave all previous recordings behind as far as sound is concerned.
This may not be the finest recording of this opera, but let's face it, this is the 21st century and Solti, Keilberth and Krips are dead and so is Leonie Rysanek (fortunately their recordings are still available). One is free to choose of course, but I recommend this recording very highly . It comes in a handsome box-set , a full trilingual libretto and an exhaustive essay by Botstein, who is also a fine Strauss scholar.
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Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Richard Strauss
~ Richard Strauss
~ Richard Strauss
See all 11 tracks on this disc
by Deborah Voigt 
