From what I understand this was recorded at the dress rehearsal in front of an audience. Rysanek, Ludwig, and Berry took the evening off and were replaced by Janowitz, Kuchta, and Wiener. Karajan was a great admirer of Janowitz and he persuaded her to try the Empress. Her voice is much more lyrical than we normally hear in this role. Passage after passage is sung with shimmering beauty and she has all the notes (including the lightning-quick top D in her opening aria). Her middle register doesn't really have the strength it needs to sustain her through the Awakening Scene in the second act. Janowitz was a smart singer and she knew instinctively when a role didn't suit her; it's not surprising she never sang the role again - but she does make some ravishing sounds.Kuchta is a terrific Färberin. Wiener has excellent diction; one can understand every word he sings. He sings sensitively, but I have never been able to warm up to his actual sound. Hoffmann is a fantastic Nurse, able to sing easily all the high and low extremes of the role. Thomas is a very good Emperor although he doesn't get a lot to sing here since Karajan cuts his Act Two monologue down considerably. The Austrian conductor rearranges the scenes in Act Two (he wasn't the first conductor to do that) and makes a lot of cuts elsewhere. Nevertheless he leads a lyrical, beautiful performance.The sound is excellent. A fine performance then with some interesting alternate casting!

excellant

Sensational cast but full enjoyment marred by the slightly constricted sound.

loved it as i am a great fan of Gladys Kuchta

Die Frau ohne Schatten is often regarded as Strauss' greatest opera. The score is beautiful and engaging and melded with an intriguing and moving libretto. The opera here is mostly served well. The silvery voice of Gundula Janowitz sits ideally as the other worldly Emperess, and the earthy dramatic sound of Gladys Kuchta is her potent foil.The cast is full of star singers: Jess Thomas as the Emperor and. Grace Hoffman who is wonderfully forthright and appropriately matronly as the nurse, and also Lucia Popp and Fritz Wunderlich in the early stages of their careers in secondary roles.My only complaint is the rather coarse Barak of Otto Weiner. For me he rather detracts from the beautiful diet with Janowitz in the third act.The Weiner Symphony makes marvellously sensuous sounds well caught in this excellently recorded performance.

Well, this alternative Karajan live recording from Vienna is really a peach. We knew Karajan could do justice to the piece from his “other” Vienna live recording with the other cast, but it’s the presence of Janowitz that makes the real difference here. She is as perfect an Empress as one could hope for (even Rysanek, who practically made a career of the role, cannot match her sweetness, beauty of sound, and precision). It’s a thankless role, with bits of coloratura that are near impossible to get right (in her entrance number), but Janowitz comes closest, never slurring a note, never ceating her way out of it. And Gladys Kuchta is a revelation (why wasn’t she Nilsson’s rival also in the recording studio?) as the dyer’s wife.