Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Salome, Op. 54 (1907) [120:11]
Birgit Nilsson (soprano) – Salome
Gerhard Stolze (tenor) – Herod
Grace Hoffman (mezzo-soprano) – Herodias
Eberhard Wächter (baritone) – Jokanaan
Waldemar Kmentt (tenor) – Narraboth
Josephine Veasey (mezzo-soprano) – Page to Herodias
Paul Kuen (tenor) – First Jew
Tom Krause (baritone) – First Nazarene
Wiener Philharmoniker/Georg Solti
Elektra, Op. 58 (1909) (excerpts) [45:19]
Bayerishes Staatsorchester/Georg Solti
rec. October 1961, Sofiensaal, Vienna (Salome); 3 August 1952, Amerika Haus, Munich (Elektra)
Ambient Stereo
No text or translation
PRISTINE AUDIO PACO165 [78:35 + 66:55]
This famous old recording gets another outing here. At this stage, it is not really necessary to rehearse in detail its many virtues and few small failings. For the lead role, Strauss wanted ‘a teenage princess with the voice of Isolde.’ A teenage princess Birgit Nilsson is not, but the voice is there, and she is as impressive when singing quietly, such as when looking down into the cistern where Jokanaan is about to be decapitated, as she is in the big scene with him and the appalling but wonderful scene at the end with the severed head. The rest of the cast is very strong: Eberhard Wächter is a powerful, dignified Jokanaan, who triumphantly surmounts the occasional banality of the music Strauss gives him. Gerhard Stolze is convincingly horrible as Herod, Grace Hoffman puts the knife in at every opportunity as Herodias, Kmentt is a fine, tormented Narraboth and the smaller parts include some very well known names, such as Josephine Veasey, Paul Kuen and Tom Krause. The playing of the Vienna Philharmonic is both impassioned and precise. Solti revels in this score, and if some of its filigree detail is passed over in the torrent of sound, that is perhaps inevitable with such a complex work. Ralph Moore, in his survey of recordings of Salome, made this his joint first choice along with Karajan (survey). This is not an opera for everyone, but those who admire it – I am very much one of them – will want a copy of the Solti recording.
Here we must consider the various reissues it has had since its first appearance on analogue vinyl in 1962. Decca has issued it on CD four times, in 1985, 1998, 2006 and 2017. The easy way to distinguish them is by the cover pictures. The original vinyl issue had a famously lurid picture in which it seemed it was Birgit Nilsson’s own head that had ended up on a platter. (Decca later changed the picture for a subsequent vinyl issue.) The 1985 first CD issue replaced it with Gustave Moreau’s Salome dancing before Herod, an appropriate choice as Moreau belonged to the French Decadent tradition, which influenced Wilde, who actually wrote the original play in French. The 1998 one has a portrait head. The 2006 issue went back to the lurid one of Nilsson, but this time set at a jaunty angle, which was part of the design style of the Originals series (review). The most recent issue has also gone back to the original, but presented straight this time, and it also includes a BlueRay disc as well as the two CDs. Each later issue is described as Remastered, but, as Des Hutchinson has explained in his review of the latest Decca issue (review), it is not clear whether the engineers used a copy master or went back to the original tapes.
This new issue breaks with the tradition as it is issued not by Decca but by Pristine Audio. They specialise in restoring historic recordings, which they do with consummate skill. It comes as rather a surprise that they got their hands on this one, but, when it was issued, copyright in sound recordings only lasted for fifty years – it is seventy now, as with books – and as this recording is actually fifty-eight years old, it was available to them. We do not know, any more than with the Decca reissues, what the actual source material was. I listened through to this new issue complete, and have done some comparisons with my copy of the Decca, which is the 1985 one. The slight tape hiss which I fancied I heard on the Decca was eliminated on the Pristine Audio, and the sound was open and clear. The slight prominence of the orchestra over the singers, which everyone has commented on, is still there. However, my ears adjust very rapidly to the sound world of all decent recordings, and the differences seem slight to me.
There are two factors which might make a difference. The first is that this issue has a bonus in the form of three scenes from Elektra, with Christel Goltz in the title role, conducted by Solti, recorded in mono in 1952, but here offered in Pristine’s Ambient Stereo. We hear first Elektra’s opening monologue, sung with passion and intensity and rising easily to the top C at the climax. Then we have most of the scene between Elektra and Klytemnestra, here Elisabeth Höngen, who offers a powerful interpretation of the haunted queen with her guilt and her terrible nightmares. The usual theatre cut is made towards the end of the scene – Solti was to open this out in his 1967 complete studio recording. Finally we have the recognition scene between Elektra and Orest, starting from just before his entry to the point at which Tutor interrupts them. Orest is Ferdinand Frantz, a well-known Wotan of the time, and his rich, dark voice suits the sombre character and also contrasts well with Goltz. Solti shows that he can conduct with delicacy as well as power.
The second factor is that this version comes with only the briefest booklet note, with no text, translation or supporting material. This will not matter if you have other recordings; if not, there is an English National Opera Guide with texts, translations and essays for both Salome and Elektra in one volume. On CD, the price of this Pristine Audio issue is not very different from that of the latest Decca which has full supporting material and a BlueRay disc but not the Elektra excerpts, while the previous Originals issue is still available very cheaply.
Stephen Barber
Previous review: Ralph Moore
Bonus tracks
Elektra, Op. 58 (1909) (excerpts) [45:19]
Allein! Weh, ganz allein [8:34]
Ich will nichts hören [16:37]
Was willst du, fremder Mensch? [20:08]
Christel Goltz soprano) – Elektra
Elisabeth Höngen (mezzo-soprano) –Klytemnestra
Ferdinand Frantz (bass-baritone) – Orest
Bayerishes Staatsorchester/Georg Solti
