R.Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

This is indisputably the best recorded performance of Der Rosenkavalier, it is also one of EMI's Recordings of the Century. If your only concern about buying this version relates to the quality of the 1956 recording, forget it, the 2001 digital remastering makes it fresher than ever.

This recording of Der Rosenkavalier is, without a doubt, among the most treasured recordings in my collection. There is Strauss's divine music, a whirlwind of genius that the word sublime can't even begin to do justice to; there is Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's nonpareil Marschellin, which, alongside her wonderful portrayal of the Countess in Capriccio, is surely among the most singularly striking personages in the world of opera; there is von Karajan's sweeping and remarkably nuanced conducting of a flawless, simply exquisite orchestra which knows Strauss inside and out. Any of these elements taken by themselves would guarantee a good recording. Taken together, they afford one of the most poignantly brilliant recordings in the history of opera. A previous reviewer has disparaged von Karajan for providing too languorous a conducting style, but I couldn't disagree more; in my mind, von Karajan has a habit of conducting a work that is marvelous in its technical perfection, but which can sometimes lose some of the heart and transcendent feeling possible to the best music. This is not so with Rosenkavalier; it is precisely because of its delicate pacing that this version does so much justice to the subtleties of the opera and allows the full sublimity of its sweeping melodies to unfurl gently and surely in the listener's ear. Any less "languid" a production would be a very different opera, and while such a one might have its merit, it would inevitably lose some of the nuance and delicacy that make von Karajan's recording so capable of transporting the listener beyond the sensible world and into the realm of something that can only be described as celestial. There can be no greater acclamation offered to the greatest of music than that it has accomplished just this, and so I implore anyone with an interest in music to give this version of Strauss's masterpiece a try. To the Rosenkavalier lover, it is surely worth exploring the various recordings out there; for the first-time listener or one who is simply looking for the definitive recording, this is the one to get.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf has recently departed our society after a long and illustrious career, and no admirer of her work should be without one of her finest and most celebrated monuments. This Rosenkavalier still stands comparison with any other that I know, but its significance is over and above its merits purely as a performance and recording.

What we have here is a memorial to two epochs. One epoch is the world that was heading for destruction in the wars of the 20th century. Part of that world was the society of the idle rich, the gilded butterflies with their servants and silver roses, a kind of Wellsian Eloi marking time until the advent of their own Morlocks in 1914 and 1917. By the date of this performance in 1956 the world had had enough nemesis and catharsis to be going on with, and was trying to retrieve something of what had been lost while re-establishing itself in a new form. The technology of musical recording had made enormous advances, the discerning musical public was ready for some added spice to the standard fare of Mozart Beethoven and Brahms, and the imagination and opportunism of Walter Legge was well vindicated in the reception given to his production of Rosenkavalier. Both the story and the music of Rosenkavalier were ostentatiously and provocatively reactionary in 1911, the very year of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and Legge's instinct was right in sensing that this evocation of a vanished and irresponsible culture would be welcomed in a society yearning to put austerity and dull dutifulness behind it. In the 50's the number of classical recordings had not yet exceeded what could be annually reviewed in a leisurely way in a hardback book called The Record Year, and I can still remember what a landmark production it saw this Rosenkavalier as being.

Another factor was Karajan. This was a new kind of orchestral maestro, flamboyant in his lifestyle and a `society' figure. It would be perverse to deny that he was an outstanding musician nevertheless, and this Rosenkavalier is as good a test-case as any for how one finally rates him. To me he seems to have done nearly everything very well without ever attaining the outright greatness of Fuertwaengler Toscanini or Beecham. He was outstandingly professional and even in his way perfectionistic, just as Legge was, but he had a soul and deep sensibility as well, and there is no way this performance can be faulted for failure to understand the music or the composer. And that takes us back to the performers. Schwarzkopf, for me, is ideal as the Marschallin, her voice coming over as the right kind of thirtysomething as well as having the authority and poise that the role demands. I think it would be possible to quibble endlessly over the right sort of voices for Octavian and Sophie without coming to any firm conclusion. I wouldn't claim that Teresa Stich-Randall has a vocal quality to rival, say, Janowitz or Ameling, but Sophie is an innocent and unsophisticated young girl, not Princess Margaret or Joanna Lumley, and I have no difficulty with Stich-Randall in the part. As for Octavian, how does the singer act the part of a youth who can pass for feminine to Ochs not only by his looks but apparently by his voice as well? Ludwig is a great singer and a great musician and that will do for me. I particularly like the way Edelmann handles the part of Ochs, partly Austria's answer to Squire Western but also with the right air of second-tier aristocracy to him. It would be hard to think of anything Waechter did not sing well, and there is an unlooked-for bonus in the form of Gedda, no less, as the Italian tenor.

The recording has benefited from some digital remastering, and it would be unreasonable to complain that it is not and cannot be quite the equal of productions dating from 30 and 40 years later. The booklet is excellent too, with a fine essay by Karajan's biographer Richard Osborne; and Legge, husband of Schwarzkopf, supplies the English translation of the libretto. This is not, I should say, an absolutely transcendental performance in the sense that one might say that of Fuertwaengler's Tristan or of Parsifal from Knappertsbusch, the kind of reading that has never been fully equalled and never seems likely to be. It's more on the level, eminent indeed but not out of sight, occupied by Karajan's own fine Mastersingers, which I also own and highly value. If the performance and recording are your exclusive preoccupation there are certainly rivals to this account and there is plenty of informed commentary on those to guide your choice. For me, as I suppose I've indicated, this is a set that I want just for itself regardless of comparisons. I shall be very surprised if it ever disappoints anyone else either.