Search - Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten

A fabulous night

La Cieca | New York New York New York | 09/04/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The legendary FRAU partnership of Rysanek/Ludwig/King/Berry/Boehm assemble one last time for another earth-shaking performance. Compared to earlier performances of this quintet (e.g., the highly illegal Met pirates), Rysanek is in firmer, richer voice, Ludwig beginning to show the strain of the killer role of the Faeberin, Berry ever more tender and poetic, and King perhaps somewhat less stiff while still in ringing voice. The usual big cuts, of course, but that is little enough to pay for Boehm's volcanic conducting. This sounds to me mastered a little sharp, which tends to make Ludwig sound like she's screaming, even when she's not."

GREAT PERFORMANCES, FINE SOUND.

Boz | 12/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The four principal stars of this production performed it to great acclaim all around the world. Thanks to O d'O for releasing this historic performance. As for the performance itself: it is magnificent! All of the singers score five stars. Karl Bohm's conducting is superb. As for the recording sonics, they are not as bad as previous reviewers have stated. In fact, I have heard worse. The sonics on this recording are very fine for a live performance from 1974. My final rating:

Performance/ 5 stars, Sonics/ 4 stars, Overall Rating/ 5 stars."

Terrific Performance, Poor Sonics

Boz | 08/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This performance is terrific. It contains the legendary cast of Bohm's 'Straussian' family that performed the work all over the world. But the sonics here is not so good. My advice is to get the Vienna 1964 under Karajan from DG. That version is in also mono not stereo. Also, Karajan makes cuts and reorganizes some of the scens so that they don't follow Strauss direction.
However, the performance is simply exceptionally outstanding. Christa Ludwig gives a miraculous performance as the Dyer's Wife - the supreme interpreter of the role, above all competition. Your heart stops whenever she starts singing. Leonie Rysanek, it need not be said, is incomparable as the Empress - no one can touch Rysanek in the role of the Empress except Rysanek herself!! Grace Hoffman sings with searing dramatic sense in the difficult role of the Nurse. Her voice is strong and incisive. Her malevolence comes through clearly and her voice has sufficient heft to cut through the Straussian orchestration. Walter Berry is in sensational voice as Barak and his partnership with then-wife Christa Ludwig is unbeatable. Their duet at the beginning of Act 3 is a collectors' item to be treasured. Jess Thomas is in excellent voice as the Emperor. Plus we have the great Fritz Wunderlich in a small role and the lovely soprano, Lucia Popp in a number of small roles - the falcon, the voice from heaven, the voices of unborn children. The Vienna Philharmonic play like gods. They knew that this was Karajan's last opera with them and they gave nothing but their best - their quality of musicianship puts all and sundry to shame. Finally, the DG transfers are superb. No doubt it is in mono but the clarity of detail is amazing. One could only wish that someone had been smart enough to record it in stereo back then. Unfortunately, no one did. It is always worthwhile getting a DG 'live' performance than some of those on smaller labels simply because DG has access to the original tapes and always make superb transfers. Karajan's 1962 Il Trovatore for example, had been available for a long time on smaller labels but the smaller labels had bad sonic quality. So when the DG version came out I just snapped it up because the quality was better although I had to pay more. Therefore, if you want the 1964 Karajan Vienna, better snap up now. (...) That night in 1964 at the Vienna State Opera was a miraculously special one that Straussians will not want to miss. In particular, if you like Die Frau Ohne Schatten, you must not miss that performance, esp when DG has done such superb transfers.This performance is also exceptionally good. Ludwig, Rysanek and Berry all reprise their role to outstanding effect. In this version, Ruth Hesse takes over as the Nurse and James King is sensational as the Emperor. But sonics, sonics, sonics.... not too good. The DG version is clearer. I would have liked DG to do THIS transfer. Unfortunately, they didn't. So if you want a DG-quality transfer with a similar cast, get the DG Karajan."