Search - Igor Stravinsky, Claudio Abbado, Tatiana Troyanos :: Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex

Poor sound buries Abbado's only Oedipus Rex on records

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/17/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It would seem that Opera d'Oro got their pirate tape of this live Oedipus Rex from someone in the audience, because orchestral instruments are close and loud while the solo voices and chorus are distant. Add a cathedral ambience, and the result isn't a good listen. From what we can hear, Tatiana Troyanos was a terrific Jocasta, and the lesser know Oedipus, Lejos Kozna, was good, if not up to her standard. Franz Crass is formidable and in excellent voice as Creon. As for Abbado's interpretation, it's very well controlled and involved but a bit smoothed out and mellifluous for what Stravinsky had in mind, a cool, distanced retelling of Oedipus's familiar tragic tale. Anyway, nobod will give this CD a second listen after getting an idea of the unsatisfactory sound.



P.S. -- Opera d'Oro has a much better sounding Oedipus Rex from Karajan boradcast over Italian radio, but it's also straightforward, with less to offer, in fact, than the more intense and involved Abbado."