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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Böhm excels in this most mercurial of operas,
By
This review is from: R Strauss: Capriccio (Audio CD)
A witty, subtle and refined text matched with glorious music makes this opera a connoisseur's delight. Two superb German recordings separated by 13 years vie for our attention: this one from 1972 and the earlier set by Sawallisch, each with a distinguished cast and each sharing a potential disadvantage in the casting of the tenor role of Flamand, as neither Peter Schreier not Nicolai Gedda is ideally mellifluous where a voice of the Fritz Wunderlich type would have been ideal. Both are such intelligent artists, however, it might seem perverse to complain. Personal preference will dictate whether you want voice, voice and more voice with Gundula Janowitz as the Countess or the sharper word-painting of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf with a slighter, less opulent instrument; frankly I love both.
Listening to a wonderful concert performance of the introductory string sextet last Sunday whetted my appetite to hear this music again. Despite leaner sound, Sawallisch's Philharmonia principals bring a little more poetry to it than Böhm's Bayerischen Rundfunks, but both are such fine orchestras that, again, comparisons seem redundant. Both are classic recordings and I would not want to be without either. I have a great attachment to Renée Fleming's account of the last scene on her "Strauss Heroines" recital; this is music which brings out the best in a creamy-voiced Strauss soprano such as she, Lisa Della Casa and the two leading ladies in the complete recordings discussed here. It is music which also brings out the best in Karl Böhm, whose finest work is, I believe, represented in live Strauss operas from the Salzburg festivals - and this studio recording shares much of the spontaneity and drive of those live recordings, such as "Daphne". The cast-list reads like a compendium of the greatest names of the era. I am never the greatest Fischer-Dieskau fan but concede the beauty and intelligence of his singing both as Olivier for Sawallisch and as the Count for Böhm and Hermann Prey's outing here as Olivier is one of his happiest. Karl Ridderbusch deploys his rotund bass most engagingly as La Roche and even the smaller roles are cast from strength. Given that Strauss called this A "Conversation Piece", varied, subtly inflected delivery of the wordy dialogue is crucial and the largely German-speaking singers here animate the text admirably. The culminating glory of this set is that last scene, beginning with the "Mondscheinmusik", surely one of the loveliest and most atmospheric preludes in all opera. Böhm does not tarry sentimentally over this luminous music but his love for it pervades every bar with the passion of true adoration. Sawallisch, by comparison, is a tad lethargic and not helped by the thinner sound. Despite my admiration for both sets, forced to choose, the ampler acoustic, more sensuous soprano of Janowitz and the greater urgency brought to the score by Böhm incline me to this DG recording as my favourite.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bohm's best studio effort,
By M. Mclain "liqwidfrog" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: R Strauss: Capriccio (Audio CD)
This recording is perhaps Bohm's greatest studio effort. Certainly he was best live--for example his Bayreuth 'Tristan' and 'Die Frau Ohne Schatten' at the Vienna Opera. But this opera never seems to lose pace, and the modest tempi work quite well.
The cast features several of the same performers as the 1968 Figaro, a masterful recording in its own right. Hermann Prey and Fischer-Dieskau are wonderful (ironically, Diskeau is again playing a count) with the wonderful Janowitz and Troyanos filling in the female roles. Both of these recordings benefit most from this fantastic ensemble, and Bohm continued to enjoy the work of these great talents in his Mozart and Strauss performances throughout the 50's and 60's. The tone of this opera is very conversational, and their is a greater emphasis on ensemble than solos (again, like Figaro). Much has been made of Bohm being passed over for Krauss to conduct the premiere, and also that Bohm conducted this opera quite infrequently compared to others--but this overshadows the tremendous success he enjoyed at the Salzburger Festspiele with this work, and that at the time he was considered its greatest exponent. The recording was highly praised, and its quality remains intact to this day. The opening Sextet is marvelous (it's reminiscent of the string writing of Schubert) and the last scene is especially magical. In many ways it is the ideal that Strauss had been moving towards in his later operas; it is charming, simple and conversational. Although it uses a typically large Straussian orchestra, the writing is in a chamber style, and is consistent with his movement towards the last songs and chamber works of his old age. If one accepts Strauss as being the heir of Mozart and Wagner, it's the point at which Strauss best captured the charm of Mozart, while fully using the Wagnerian leitmotif and romantic orchestra. It is as far removed from Salome and Elektra that one could get, but it is no less of a work because of that. 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
almost perfect,
By E. Lyons - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: R Strauss: Capriccio (Audio CD)
This is a really wonderful recording, and would be the best Capriccio if it were not for one thing. The sound is very good, Janowitz is sublime in the operas big moments, and the principals are all very animated and involved. I listen to this record all the time. However, the character Flamand has some of the opera's most beautiful music (the sonnett, the love scene with the Countess), and Peter Schrier is just not right for the role. He is a great artist, but this is not a spieltenor role; it requires some real vocal glamour, and Schrier has this very tight-sounding, constricted, character-tenor voice that doesn't fill out the music in the right way. I am not saying that it requires a big voice, but it does require a more open and beautiful sound. This drawback stops this recording from being the ultimate Capriccio experience. The Sawallisch recording has Gedda, who has a more romantic, beautiful sound.
Still, this recording is a must, to hear the rest of the cast and Boehm's conducting in rich full sound. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Böhm excels in this most mercurial of operas,
By Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: R Strauss: Capriccio (Audio CD)
A witty, subtle and refined text matched with glorious music makes this opera a connoisseur's delight. Two superb German recordings separated by 13 years vie for our attention: this one from 1972 and the earlier set by Sawallisch, each with a distinguished cast and each sharing a potential disadvantage in the casting of the tenor role of Flamand, as neither Peter Schreier not Nicolai Gedda is ideally mellifluous where a voice of the Fritz Wunderlich type would have been ideal. Both are such intelligent artists, however, it might seem perverse to complain. Personal preference will dictate whether you want voice, voice and more voice with Gundula Janowitz as the Countess or the sharper word-painting of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf with a slighter, less opulent instrument; frankly I love both.
Listening to a wonderful concert performance of the introductory string sextet last Sunday whetted my appetite to hear this music again. Despite leaner sound, Sawallisch's Philharmonia principals bring a little more poetry to it than Böhm's Bayerischen Rundfunks, but both are such fine orchestras that, again, comparisons seem redundant. Both are classic recordings and I would not want to be without either. I have a great attachment to Renée Fleming's account of the last scene on her "Strauss Heroines" recital; this is music which brings out the best in a creamy-voiced Strauss soprano such as she, Lisa Della Casa and the two leading ladies in the complete recordings discussed here. It is music which also brings out the best in Karl Böhm, whose finest work is, I believe, represented in live Strauss operas from the Salzburg festivals - and this studio recording shares much of the spontaneity and drive of those live recordings, such as "Daphne". The cast-list reads like a compendium of the greatest names of the era. I am never the greatest Fischer-Dieskau fan but concede the beauty and intelligence of his singing both as Olivier for Sawallisch and as the Count for Böhm and Hermann Prey's outing here as Olivier is one of his happiest. Karl Ridderbusch deploys his rotund bass most engagingly as La Roche and even the smaller roles are cast from strength. Given that Strauss called this A "Conversation Piece", varied, subtly inflected delivery of the wordy dialogue is crucial and the largely German-speaking singers here animate the text admirably. The culminating glory of this set is that last scene, beginning with the "Mondscheinmusik", surely one of the loveliest and most atmospheric preludes in all opera. Böhm does not tarry sentimentally over this luminous music but his love for it pervades every bar with the passion of true adoration. Sawallisch, by comparison, is a tad lethargic and not helped by the thinner sound. Despite my admiration for both sets, forced to choose, the ampler acoustic, more sensuous soprano of Janowitz and the greater urgency brought to the score by Böhm incline me to this DG recording as my favourite. |
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