Richard Strauss: Salome (Arthaus: 101593) [DVD] [2012] [NTSC]

Having given the big thumbs down to the lamentable Göring Reichspalatz setting by McVicar, I thought at first we were in for more of the same, updated perhaps to a Ceausescu villa in Bucharest or more likely an earthquake wrecked palace of the Albanian tyrant Enver Hoxha! The opening scene and Salome's performance with squally highs and a definite wobble gave me bad feelings but this time the executioner had a jock! When Doris Soffel and then Kim Begley appeared however things changed dramatically. It hardly seemed like the same production. I have always hankered after Astrid Varnay as Herodias and fantastic as she was, Soffel turns on what must be the Herodias of all time. Herod is not far behind and inspired by them and the excellent band of Jews and Nazarenes, Salome moves up several gears and we get an absolutely thrilling second half with one of the most original dances and endings I have ever seen. For a lady into her fifties Angela Denoke does pretty well and certainly has kept herself in good shape. Her voice is not the best but all-in-all her performance was more than acceptable. Alan Held as Jokanaan sang brilliantly but I felt his make-up and acting was misdirected. There are no extras and no curtain calls, the right decision for this opera. I doubt I will watch my McVicar disc again but depite some reservations over the setting and Angela Denoke, this is a performance that deserves many repeats. It could have been better with a different staging and perhaps a different Salome but as of today this is by far the best overall Salome available on disc.
I am a traditionalist and that explains my reservations over the opening but when we got to the second half, nothing mattered anymore and I was bowled over by the performance.

This Salome by Richard Strauss is directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff in a ultra modern staging. People are on the brink of madness, because society is falling apart around them. The Christians are awaiting the end of the corrupt world order in the hope that Gods realm will become a possiblity on Earth.(in their dreams). The future could be this bleak if we do not overcome Global climate change and continue with our greedy ways. The staging is one set, a concrete destroyed building with John the Baptist in the cells under the floor, set in the future.

Salome desires John and Dances the seven veils at the behest of Herodes,who then offers her anything she wants, which is the head of John. She kisses it and Herodes has her killed. Angela Denoke as Salome is better then Stratas in the DVD conducted by Bohm slowly. Nadja Michael is good, but could be better if the conducting by Philippe Jordan was not stop and start. The sets by Mcvicar are woeful,set in a washroom in Nazi Germany. They even have Jews in that version. In the nazi era they would have shot them.I was not impressed at all by that bluray. However, this Salome Denoke outsings and is the better actor then the other two, Stratas and Michael.Herodias Doris Soffel,Salomes mother is believeable and an attractive woman.This is important for Herodias is a wanton woman herself. In the other two sets the parts are taken by unattractive overweight women.The point is missed completely, that Salome is the way she is because of her sexual active Mother. John is sung lyrically by Alan Held. Herodes is Kim Begley who sings beautifully. All the parts are well taken. The Deutsches symphonie orchestra Berlin is conducted by Stefan Soltesz lyrically and with vigor. I hope Jordan takes a few tips from Soltesz on how to conduct this work.

Denoke dances to the music,teases Herodes sexually with Johns cape and herself. None of this running through doors as in the Mc Vicar version. This is very down to earth. As I am a fan of both traditional and modern staging I can say traditionalists will hate this version. For those who like modern staging and Lehnhoff's work do not hesitate to buy this version.

Worldwide. Subtitles 16.9. 1080i full HD. PCM stereo,dts master audio 5.O

There's initially a sense of dislocation then when you view director Nikolaus Lehnhoff's 2011 production of Salome for Baden-Baden, as it has few of the superficial visual reference points that you would normally associate with its biblical Judean setting, and little even of the stylised imagery of moonlight nights and shadows of death suggested by a text derived from Oscar Wilde's beautifully decadent overwrought imagery. This version of Salome however is far from a straightforward biblical tale, but rather an expression of dark sexual pathology, of the fulfilment of dangerous desires, of obsession and lust, a lurid study of the power that those perverse drives confer on both the object and the subject of those desires and how it differentiates men and women.

The fractured, slightly titled landscape here in Salome then suggests a psychological imbalance, while the contrasts that are expressed in the music and the characters are reflected in the textures of the walls and floors of the unconventional stage arrangement, with a dark glossy reflective centre-stage surrounded by crumbling plaster, broken tiles and rotting whitewashed wooden panels. It's far from naturalistic, but then there's nothing naturalistic about the situation or Strauss' aggressive music that pushes the boundaries of the tonal system. That dark fascination of this 'Liebestod' situation and conflict is there in the orchestration, the composer scoring directly in response to the flow and the tone of Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of Wilde's drama, and the music is accordingly intense, intimate, perverse and disturbing, but with a romantic sweep that captures the grander epic nature of the lurid melodrama.

The approach to the tone of the drama and the music and how it is reflected is important, but equally as important is how it is interpreted. The cast assembled here for the Baden-Baden production deliver superb performances to match the attentive detail that is brought out of the score by the orchestra under Stefan Soltesz. Angela Denoke plays Salome as if she is in thrall to the bizarre situation and the potential that it suggests, and that suits the production perfectly. There's a rising intensity in the performance that is in line with the score and she seems to be attuned to the slightest variations of tone within it. Alan Held is a rather more animated Jochanaan than others I have seen, less mystical and more of a firebrand prophet, and that works well with the heightened aggression on display. In this respect, the head of Jochanaan possessed by Salome at the still shocking conclusion, is also one of the most frighteningly realistic I've ever seen in a production of this opera. Theatrical prosthetics have come a long way over the years.

The Blu-ray from Arthaus is of the usual exceptionally high standards. The image is crystal clear to catch the full lighting, colour and contrasts of the set. The audio tracks are PCM Stereo and DTS HD-Master Audio 5.0, breathtaking in High Definition clarity. This is really an amazing way to view and listen to this extraordinary work. The production, incidentally, is clearly a live performance, but there are no signs of an audience being present at the opening or close of this one-act opera - much like the Lehnhoff sister production of Elektra for Baden-Baden, already available on DVD. There are no extra features, but the booklet contains a good essay on the work, a full synopsis and notes on the production by the director. The disc is BD25, region-free, 1080i full-HD, subtitles are German, English, Italian, French, Spanish and Korean.