Richard Strauss: Salome

Karajan was perfectly suited to the music of Richard Strauss--and he never gave a better performance than he does here. Listeners will know that he was capable of indulgence, and dramatic flow was sometimes lost in the sheer beuty of Strauss's writing.This is a gorgeous performance, but it is always dramatically priscise,and the tension keeps building, only slowing down a bit in the cappadocian scene. But Hildegarde Behrens is definitely the reason to buy this:her voice stays silvery and sweet, but most importantly sounds youthfull, and perfectly protrays the the erotic princess.
As compared with the classic Solti, Karajan definitely matches him in excitement, but isn't quite as forcefull. As wonderful as Nilsson is, she doesn't have the voice of a young girl, and so is not as covining in that aspect as is the overwelming Behrens. Sound on both is excellant, with The decca sharper and clearer, but EMI's recording suits this opera,and many of the supporting roles are superior to Decca's, espescially the Herodias. This is an essential recording of Salome.

Generally, late 1970's and 1980's Karajan studio recordings, to my liking at least, must be approached with care and even mistrust. His immense talent not being the subject of discussion, yet as he aged he tended to give a lot more attention to how things were played, how they actually sounded, than to what was being played, somewhat along the lines of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who also tended to give so much attention to these matters as to sound affected and artificial. Those special qualities (see following paragraph) that so much distinguished his recordings with the Philhamonia Orchestra made during the 1950's for EMI, or his early '60's discs made for Decca, EMI and DG with the Vienna and Berlin orchestras gradually faded along the 1970's and the 1980's.

But not in this recording. This is easily the best conducted Salome in recorded history, and that so in a work that has been particularly lucky in this respect. What we have here is a return in spirit to "das wunder Karajan" of 30 years earlier, to what lay behind the acronym of "Toscawängler" coined by some London critics of the early 1950's when Karajan righfully dazzled audiences all over post-war Europe once the Allied authorities in occupied Germany and Austria allowed him to return to work. That the 70-year old conductor was able to return to his form of 25 years earlier, upon which much of his fame was built is short of miraculous, in a work that so much exhudes the sexual reckoning of youth. Tension along the two hour-long performance never ceases and by the time the final orchestral crashes aurally picture Salome being literally crushed under Herod's soldiers's shields, you breathe in relief. Wow! is most likely what you may be able to utter ...

The recording is based on a Salzburg Festival production for which a formidable cast was assembled. Yet Karajan seemed to view the opera as some kind of extended-length orchestral work with vocal obbligati, as the orchestra is the prime player, indeed the real protagonist. And the VPO gladly picked up the challenge, playing like gods and captured in superb sound that has endured the test of time (the recording dates from 1977!) and puts to shame many a modern disc. Commisioned by HMV to Decca, the latter's engineers no doubt did their best to show their arch-rival EMI colleagues what they could achieve (the recording counts Jimmy Lock among its producers and engineers, the legendary John Culshaw's right hand in many a Decca Vienna recording project).

Featured singers have mostly retired by now, but fortunately for us were caught in their prime, especially Behrens and van Dam. I've seen that others in Amazon's US sister site have referred at length to the vocal highlights of this set, so I won't, rather avoiding being repetitive; I agree with all their laudatory comments (why, I wonder, won't Amazon make available customer reviews posted in their world sites?).

In sum, any newcomer to Salome won't go wrong with this audio-only set. If video is a must, I'd propose the superb Malfitano Berlin performance, a rendition also very well conducted by the much-lamented Giuseppe Sinopoli, yet available only as a VHS tape from Teldec (I don't know if there are plans to issue it in dvd); if video is a must but VHS is a no-no, I'd propose the Covent Garden Peter Hall production available in dvd from Pioneer, with Maria Ewing as Salome and conducted by Sir Edward Downes (but don't expect from Sir Edward's remarkable effort Karajan's refinement or Sinopoli's insights). Settle for Malfitano's Covent Garden performance under Dohnányi on a Decca dvd only if that's the only one you can have access to.

I've been besotted with this work since acquiring the Solti set as a teenager, at that time the only stereo version available, but soon followed by the absolutely superb Leinsdorf, now reissued at a pittance and reviewed with 5 stars by Ralph Moore, to which review I commend the reader and to which I can add little or nothing. I THINK I've got ALL the stereo era recordings of this work-and enjoy them all, though the Ozawa and regrettably the Mackerras recordings fall well short of the others. For me, THE performance is this one, though it is not without its caveats.
Karajan was the non-pareil Strauss interpreter, and his vast conception of this work was indeed the summation of his prowess. It is a hybrid recording technically-financed by EMI, and with Michel Glotz producing (in other words-Karajan!) but recorded in Decca's exclusive venue of the Sofiensall by the Decca team under James Lock, doyen of recording engineers. The results are stunning, especially in this remastering, with a spaciousness and a real sense of the vast forces required not even achieved in Solti's Decca recordings.
The playing is just sublime, and the recording very detailed-the celesta is clearly audible when it should be, and the climaxes are truly cataclysmic.
Karajan's conception is like a drug-induced fantasy, seemingly in slow-motion while actually being propelled forward inexorably.
This is the sweetness and decadence of a rotting peach, not just the almost delicious destruction of a decadent family and regime, but of the Romantic era itself-it is like Romanticism burning out in a final great orgiastic cataclysm!
To achieve this end, Karajan chose his cast carefully. Behrens captures the sex-kittenish playfulness in the early scene perfectly, and the monstrous deranged necrophiliac intensity of the climax equally perfectly. She is not surpassed in other recordings, though it can be argued that she was equalled at least, and this is undoubtedly her finest achievement and a fitting testament following her sad untimely death.
She is matched by van Dam, who of course sings with power and beautiful firm tone, but in this performance he gives the dramatic interpretation of his career. This is no hectoring declamatory fanatic of a Jokaanan, but a charismatic visionary, horrified yet tempted. Only Milnes in the Leinsdorf approaches him in this role.
Herod is a key role, and can be strung "straight", as with Richard Lewis and Robert Tear, powerfully as with Richard Cassilly and Walter Raffeiner, or as a grotesque caricature best exemplified by Stolze. For me, perfection lies midway, and the Crown goes to Zednik for Mehta.
The Herod is this set is at first impression strangely underplayed in what was Bohm's only leading role on record-well sung, but rather under characterised. The same applies to Baltsa's fine Herodias-beautifully sung, but not the most withering of assumptions-Resnik and Fassbaender share honours for that title.
This is in my view quite deliberate-for Karajan, the main protagonists are Salome , Jokanaan -and the orchestra-and he does not want the Herod/Herodias sideshow to be a distraction from the main event.
They "Hold their Own" certainly, but do not dominate in a way that Stolze and others do in their scenes. This leaves Karajan to work his unique magic and deliver an incomparable musical experience in this work.
Other roles are filled by stalwarts from the Vienna State Opera, including a young Kurt Rydl. Ochman repeats his excellent neurotic Narraboth , already heard on the Bohm Hamburg recording, and all minor roles are superbly filled.
Is this THE definitive Salome? It's my favourite certainly, but I also would not relinquish the Leinsdorf, the Mehta or either of the Bohm recordings. Others have their strengths too, though I am less fond of the Solti than I used to be.
This is an "Important" recording, one of the great swansongs of the analogue era, and Karajan never gave a better performance than here. Coupled with the stunning recording and now ridiculously low price, this is a " must have" set, and to award stars would be inadequate-there are not enough available.
Stewart Crowe