Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten - Harper, King, Dernesch, Berry, Hesse; Solti. London, 1976
$24.95
Description:
Die Frau ohne Schatten is certainly one of those operas that can only be appreciated with an excellent cast and superb musical direction. This performance delivers on both fronts. Georg Solti had a great understanding for the music of Richard Strauss. It is unfortunate that he recorded this opera so late in his career. Not to say that the London recording is not exceptional but to my ear this performance has more immediacy and bite. The great British soprano Heather Harper assumes the title role. She has no trouble coping with the soaring Strauss line and her voice seams to cut through the orchestra very well. She also brings a Mozartian grace to her part which lends it a wonderful ethereal quality that is crucial (although rare) for this role. James King must have been able to buy several houses from singing Der Kaiser. He sang it all over the world and had absolutely no rivals. It was truly incredible that a tenor with such a baritonal quality would be at such ease in the kind of tessitura the Strauss demands. Helga Dernesch was nearing the end of her soprano career in 1976. Although some of the top notes do not have the ease of some of her colleagues' one can still delight in the wonderful auburn hue of her voice. Walter Berry is very good as Barak. The sound is excellent.
OD 10352-3
Listen to a Sample:
Heather Harper’s definitive Empress
Much about this performance still seems definitive, above all Heather Harper as the Kaiserin (nobody has sung her entrance music with such delicacy and eloquence; and her later resolution is terrific). She was singing one Strauss role at Covent Garden each year: Arabella, Chrysothemis, The Empress (two seasons running), Ariadne. (She also performed Ellen Orford there and Henze’s “River” around that time, while singing Mozart’s Countess in Edinburgh.) Solti’s effect everywhere was and is electrifying. Why were these Walter Berry’s only performances at Covent Garden? A superlative artist. (And I think he came for these performances to replace Donald McIntyre.) James King (Emperor) and Ruth Hesse (Nurse) were both definitive. Too bad about Helga Dernesch as the Dyer’s wife : she looked marvellous and acted well, but she was now going flat in many notes. Even so, this is the one “Frau” recording to which I need to return and often do.
Brian Hotchkiss
I find most studio recordings of Die Frau overly spiky and angular, completely missing the music's ebb and flow, which more often is encountered in the theater, and this performance bears that out. The music by itself makes clear that the Empress is removed, afraid, but singers (or directors?) often fall into the trap of emphasizing that remove to the exclusion of all else. Harper is so much more womanly than many sopranos better know for this role, but she is also just as regal. Her voice glistens in places I'd never expected, which bathes certain passages and dramatic events in a very different (and welcome) light. Very pleased to have heard and look forward to listening again.
