Search - Richard Strauss, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Deborah Voigt :: Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos

A gift horse - don't look it in the mouth!

01/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dedicated Strauss lovers, or those for whom Ariadne is a favourite opera, will naturally have preferences for this or that recording. They will, indeed, presumably have several recordings, each for a different reason. In France, Karajan's EMI version with Schwarzkopf is considered the absolute benchmark ; but many in the UK, for example, find Schwarzkopf mannered and will always remind you that she couldn't sing the role on stage; and there are those (unaccountably perhaps) who believe Seefried couldn't sing a single note right. You might buy Bohm's live for the pleasure of hearing Hilde Guden as Zerbinetta, but have the distinct feeling that it was an off night for the usually peerless Lisa della Casa, whose lower range on this live is disconcertingly reminiscent of Anna Russell parodying Wagner (though I should immediately add that her upper register is as glorious as ever). Jessye Norman's Ariadne, impressive to say the least, is probably one of her best recordings, but as we see elsewhere on this page, Edita Gruberova is not to everyone's taste. There's no satisfying everyone, it seems.These same Strauss specialists will naturally compare Sinopoli's new version with the others and find good points and bad, depending largely on their taste in conductors and singers. Has Ben Heppner left it a little late to record the role? How well would he, or Von Otter, project in the opera house rather than in front of a microphone? Those who have heard Natalie Dessay live know that recording somehow doesn't do her voice and acting skills justice (although this recording is the best of hers I've yet heard). But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth! In an age of constant complaints that there are no competent singers left and when new versions of operas frequently add nothing whatsoever to the existing catalogue, this set should be welcomed as an outstanding achievement. For the specialists, it will not replace other versions of an opera which, as is often the case with the Strauss "majors," is well served on disc, but it must surely join them for bringing together an exceptional contemporary cast, for the superb achievement (almost an understatement!) of the Dresden players, and for the beautifully detailed recording: listening on headphones, I for one discovered a wealth of detail in the score I'd never heard before.Presumably many people searching through this web site, rather than being specialists out to compare versions, are looking to buy and get to know Ariadne for the first time, and reading the reviews to see if this is a version they might purchase. The answer, without hesitation, is yes, with this set you cannot go far wrong."

Closer to heaven

Ed Beveridge | London, England | 10/27/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording, features four of my very favourite singers, so it would have to be pretty awful for me not to give it a five-star rating. I'm surprised, though to see some rather hostile reviews on these pages, as I must say I found it wonderful. It's not in the best taste to emblazon "Sinopoli's last recording" across the front of the box, but it is true and thankfully it is a fitting record of this ever-fascinating conductor.My previous recording of choice was Kleiber (Janowitz utterly pellucid in the title role, Jess Thomas a heroic bacchus, Getzy a girlish but thinnish Zerbinetta) which had the chamber proportions of the piece perfectly represented. None of that here - we are in lush, big-house Strauss territory, but as is always the case Sinopoli looks beyond the lushness of the overarching melodies and gets into the fabric of the music. All of the witty details and leitmotifs are given their due. He allows plenty of space - some really expansive tempi - at lyrical moments but, as at the end of the prologue, really keeps things moving at other times. The recording quality is without fault, and the recording repays repeated listenings for the quality of the Dresden Stadtskapelle's playing. I have seldom heard the opera played with more refinement and skill.As for the singers: well, it's a hand-picked cast and would be hard to better on record today. Casting this opera in the theatre is another matter - how would burly Ben Heppner's Bacchus look in person? Here he sounds thrilling, his beefy tenor riding with ease the strangling tessitura. No surprise to anyone who has heard his Enee, Lohengrin or Tristan, but glorious nonetheless. Deborah Voigt has practially taken posession of the role of Ariadne today, alongside most other Strauss heroines besides, and she sounds better here than as Sinopoli's Chrysothemnis. Steady, shining of tone and even from top to bottom. Especially at the bottom, actually - some spine-chilling moments in "Ein Schones war". More flexible than a Norman, more shining than a Price, more ample than a Schwarzkopf - altogether lovely. Dessay reminds us that there is more to Zerbinetta than her big solo in the Opera, which she could probably sing standing on her head, and sounds fuller and more womanly than most others, especially Battle (who has too tiny a voice) and Gruberova (who, in her later recording, sounds mannered and pert - and doesn't always sing in tune). She is at her best in the prologue, when her seduction of the composer is heart-stopping. Said composer is Von Otter on blazing form, the voice solid and secure as ever, the character's impetuosity and sensuality sketched with great skill. And she copes as well as any mezzo ever has in this cruel role.No real stand-outs in the rest of the cast but no weak links either - but all in all it is a great record of Sinopoli's Strauss and has some glorious singing. Highly recommended."

A gem of a recording

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 06/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some of the previous Amazon.com reviews of this set are pretty sour and begrudging - I think you have to be rather spoiled not to appreciate the standard of singing, playing and interpretation in this, Sinopoli's operatic recording swansong. I am not saying that you should endorse it simply because it was the final opera recording of a great conductor; I think it can stand on its own without sentimentality. The "Gramophone" reviewer was similarly snooty about the supposed "coldness" of this interpretation, (even though he admitted that that the cast was as spectacular as you could assemble today) but I don't hear it that way. I love the old Kempe recording of this entrancing opera, with Janowitz, Zylis-Gara and Sylvia Geszty, but not even the divine Gundula can sing the highest notes with the ease and purity that Voigt brings to this majestic role. The orchestra is the same in both recordings and the Staatskapelle is wonderful in both - but the extra clarity and depth of sound in the newer recording really permits the listener to hear the nuances and detail of Sinopoli's direction - and they make such a full, rich sound in those magical closing pages, for a mere thirty players.



As much as I admire James King, he does not bring Ben Heppner's refulgence of tone to the killer tenor role of Bacchus. Heppner and Dessay, like Voigt, almost make it sound easy - and perhaps that is why some reviewers accuse them of being "faceless" in their characterisation. I don't find it so; it's such a pleasure to hear three great voices in top form. Perhaps Dessay is too gentle and seductive as Zerbinetta - a tad more acid would not go amiss - but she is witty and knowing, as she should be. The supporting roles are beautifully taken, too; Von Otter sounds more vivid than I have heard her elsewhere; there is an artist whom I admit to finding bland, sometimes - but not here. Particularly fine are Stefan Genz's pointed, elegant singing as Harlekin and Albert Dohmen's rich tones as the Music Master.



I am no fan of Schwarzkopf's mannered, overpointed style and the old Karajan recording is mono, so you cannot enjoy the orchestra colours as fully as in this atmospheric DG set. I love the 1968 Kempe account, mainly for the creamy, soaring purity of Janowitz and Zylis-Gara's adorable Composer, and would not be without it - but this is the best recommendation if you want one set only."