Strauss: Elektra - Silja, Lindholm, Madeira, Giraudeau, Nienstedt; Sebastian. Paris, 1966
$16.95
Description:
I try to be fair while writing these descriptions. It is not in my best interests to recommend a recording that is lack luster. That said it is with total sincerity that I can say that this is one of the best performances of Elektra I have ever heard. From the first chords the orchestra explodes and it is a high octane roller coaster ride for almost the whole thing, the one exception being the most beautifully lilting recognition scene I have ever heard. You would think that you were listening to a Schubert lullaby. Anja Silja took on this voice-killing part when most of her colleagues had not even made their professional debuts. Certainly it was a great risk but she meets the demands with admirable power and commitment to the drama (she is helped by one or two extra cuts.) Her high Cs are sung with astonishing abandon and incredible ease given the demands that this role puts on the voice. She is joined by Berit Lindholm as Chrysothemis who brings remarkable warmth and color to the role and manages the stratospheric tessitura very well. The world was robbed of Jean Madeira far too soon. She brings amazing character and pathos to a role which all too often can descend into caricature. You find yourself both repulsed by her and sorry for her. Gerd Nienstedt rounds out the cast as a velvety Orest. The sound is very good and the impact of Strauss' orchestra comes through better than many studio recordings I have heard.
BONUS:
Anja Silja sings Isolde's Narration and Curse from Tristan und Isolde
Roma, 1965
André Cluytens, conductor
OD 10333-2
Listen to a Sample:
United StatesAmazing.
With the addition of Georges Sébastian’s Elektra from Paris in 1966 I am confident I won’t need anymore recordings of this opera. I have accumulated 18 recordings of this opera over 50 years. I have never warmed to this opera as I have to Salome and Die Frau ohne Schatten. My first recording was Solti’s with Nilsson. I was impressed but it hurt my ears and I have never liked it. Nilsson is spectacular, as far as decibels and high notes are concerned but beyond that I have always found her tiresome and over-bearing, and so perfect, technically, as to be beyond criticism. I have acquired all the usual recordings, looking for satisfaction. Some came close, like Mitropoulos with Borkh and Madeira, and Tate with Gwyneth and Leonie. And Sinopoli’s looked great in print, Alessandra Marc and Hanna Schwarz, but it didn’t quite ring the bell, no cigar. Then Georges Sébastian, who? you might say. I only knew him from an old scratchy recording of Dukas’ Symphony in C. I remember that recording because it was oddly compelling. I bought this Elektra because of the the 3 leading ladies and my hunch paid off magnificently. Anja Silja, Jean Madeira and Berit Lindholm blew me away. All these singers have been blowing me away for years but to actually be blasted out of the Elektra doldrums after years of no hope of ever being decimated by this opera as I knew it was possible to be in some perfect universe has been life-affirming to me like you can’t believe. Finally it is clear to me that Elektra IS Strauss’s masterpiece. I never thought so before. Sébastien keeps it moving along at a relentless pace, and it works. No clarity of orchestration is lost and the lost is very good. It favors the singers, no one is drowned out, not event even the tiny roles of the Schleppträgering and Vertraute are lost in the maelstrom. The bass is especially strong and Sébastian’s solid leadership makes it the underpin holding the skittering hysteria around it stay together as a unit. Details we all love, like Klytämnestra’s cackling and death screams are vividly, and chilling, without resorting to the John Culshaw overkill for Solti which I have always found off-putting. That man ruined opera recordings for ever if you asked me. I have never heard Silja sing anything so riveting, and that is saying a lot for her. I didn’t really ever think she had Elektra in her gift. And to think that she recorded this before he famous, Sentas, Elisabeths and Elsas at Bayreuth. She was (is) an amazing opera singer. Berit Lindholm is an amazing Chrysothemis, no one comes close to creating a vivid portrayal of this woman, and her voice is gorgeous, as always, Madeira is heart-stopping with her booming Erda voice jumping around her entire vocal range with agility and power, Gerd Nienstedt’s Orest is very dark and foreboding, the best Orest I have heard on record. The cast is anonymous but the are all fine. If you have a recording already that has a libretto your fine and can follow along that way. But after 50 years I know what is going on and following the text word for word in superfluous at the point. The joyousness of the close when Chrysothemis returns to announce that dead of all inside the palace if very exciting and compelling. Nilsson has Nothing on Silja. And there no better Chrysothemis and Klytämnestras on any highly touted and expensively produced mainline recordings. Not to be disrespectful but screw Solti.
strauss: elektra- anja silja
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Solid
So nice to hear a young, healthy, bright voice singing the title role in Elektra rather than an old, heavy, dull, wobbly one. Silja here reminds me of Inge Borkh who is just a ferocious Elektra. Very pleasantly surprised by Berit Lindholm's Chrysothemis. I had never heard her before, and Elektra is notoriously difficult to cast with its two dramatic soprano roles. This pair made a fine ensemble. Be forewarned that there's a little distortion at the very beginning, on Klytämnestra's hishest notes, and a little bauble in the Recognition Scene. Otherwise the sound is very good to excellent. A nice live Elektra for your collection.
