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Review
This is obviously an essential acquisition for all Soderstrom admirers but also for all who all who enjoy the lighter Strauss. --IRR,Feb'11
Its a delight to have (Soderstrom) witty and moving as Christine.At Glyndebourne,she sang Andrew Porter's exemplary English,and she is glorius in the Lyrical passages. *** --The Sunday Times,20/02/11
I Love it very much,and clearly Soderstrom did too. Performance **** Recording *** --BBC Music Magazine,Mar'11
Soderstrom offers a heartier range of vocal colour and seems to inhabit the role inways that make the comic aspects driven more by the character than by the situation. --Gramophone,Sept'11
I Love it very much,and clearly Soderstrom did too. Performance **** Recording *** --BBC Music Magazine,Mar'11
Its a delight to have (Soderstrom) witty and moving as Christine.At Glyndebourne,she sang Andrew Porter's exemplary English,and she is glorius in the Lyrical passages. *** --The Sunday Times,20/02/11
I Love it very much,and clearly Soderstrom did too. Performance **** Recording *** --BBC Music Magazine,Mar'11
Soderstrom offers a heartier range of vocal colour and seems to inhabit the role inways that make the comic aspects driven more by the character than by the situation. --Gramophone,Sept'11
I Love it very much,and clearly Soderstrom did too. Performance **** Recording *** --BBC Music Magazine,Mar'11
CD Description
Elisabeth Söderström (1927-2009) stars in this live BBC broadcast of Richard Strauss s comic and pioneering opera, Intermezzo, recorded at Glyndebourne in 1974. This unique performance is now available on CD for the first time as part of Chandos Opera in English historical series. One of the great sopranos of the twentieth-century, Söderström's performances throughout the world were as famous as her many classic recordings. At Glyndebourne, from where this 1974 performance was recorded by the BBC, she appeared in some 13 festivals over a period of 25 years. Her performances of Richard Strauss were particularly admired. Invited to sing the central role of Christine in the first British performance of Intermezzo, this Swedish-born, multi-lingual artist insisted that it should be sung in English contrary to the company s policy at that time. She won the argument, as can be heard on the CD. Glyndebourne s George Christie sums up the characteristics of this great artist: She was a consummate singer/actress a mistress of bathos and an exquisite comedienne. She was beguilingly beautiful. Audiences fell in love with her as did her team-mates on stage and off-stage. At Glyndebourne she reigned supreme. There was no lack of rivals, but she had an indefinable quality which made her the unquestioned, unchallenged queen. Intermezzo was first performed in 1924, and is based on an incident in the often turbulent, but enduring marriage of the composer, Richard Strauss, and his wife, Pauline. Strauss had yearned to write a work in lighter vein than his previous operas and turned for his material to his marital life with Pauline. The storyline is about a wife who, feeling neglected and upset that her composer/husband is often away, goes off seeking enjoyment elsewhere. The fusion of music and dialogue is remarkable in the way that Strauss welds together lyrical outpourings, sprechgesang, the earthy dialect of servants and the polished language of their employers to draw fine characterisations, all underpinned by a brilliant score that illuminates the action. The opera draws an affectionate yet sharp portrait, employing many devices typically used in comic opera misunderstandings, confused names, intercepted telegrams, and the like. Nevertheless, Pauline Strauss failed to see the joke (true to character), whilst audiences of the day thought Strauss s thinly-veiled portrait of a marriage in dubious taste. After Strauss's death the work did gain in popularity, Glyndebourne s production doing much to stimulate admiration for the opera in Britain.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The sound in this lovely performance/recording is balanced in a way that make it rather more like the experience in the theatre, where voice and orchestra blends nicely. Not like studio recordings that most of the time let the voices come forward.
This recording is nice, relaxed and the conducting seems to benefit a lot from being a live recording. The give and take between conductor and singers makes it even more relaxed and fun then the excellent Sawallisch recording. I found this to be a hugely enjoyable cd.
This recording is nice, relaxed and the conducting seems to benefit a lot from being a live recording. The give and take between conductor and singers makes it even more relaxed and fun then the excellent Sawallisch recording. I found this to be a hugely enjoyable cd.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
On the plus side this is a heartfelt performance by the conductor and all involved. There is a very interesting and informative booklet which is always particularly useful in the case of an obscure opera like this which does not appear in most opera guides.
This is all rather let down by the quality of the recorded sound which is no more than adequate and which is why only 3 stars for the review. There is a Radio 3 logo in several places in the packaging and on each disc, but I am rather surprised that they were so keen to be associated with this product. The sound is more like one would expect to hear from something recorded in 1964 or earlier rather than 1974. By that time most of us with no more than modest home stereos were enjoying very good quality stereo signals of live broadcasts of operas and concerts. The sound on the CDs is very poor in comparison and at times the voices are very thin -almost brittle and it is rather a trial to listen to it for more than 20 minutes or so at a time. The voices often seem very recessed too and it is difficult at times to make out many of the words. I did wonder if what we get here was taken from a home recording of a broadcast rather than something from the BBCs own vaults but it clearly states on the cover "a BBC recording".
It is disappointing that there are no advisory warnings about the sound quality either on the packaging -or preferably on the website before one buys it as customers should be entitled to expect that something from 1974 on a label of repute like Chandos will be in decent sound.
This all the more disappointing as there are very few recordings of this opera and very few opportunities to see it performed live even in Germany and Austria. There is a DVD of the same Glyndebourne production (from a different year hence different cast) but this too suffers from the indifferent quality of the picture and the sound.
This is all rather let down by the quality of the recorded sound which is no more than adequate and which is why only 3 stars for the review. There is a Radio 3 logo in several places in the packaging and on each disc, but I am rather surprised that they were so keen to be associated with this product. The sound is more like one would expect to hear from something recorded in 1964 or earlier rather than 1974. By that time most of us with no more than modest home stereos were enjoying very good quality stereo signals of live broadcasts of operas and concerts. The sound on the CDs is very poor in comparison and at times the voices are very thin -almost brittle and it is rather a trial to listen to it for more than 20 minutes or so at a time. The voices often seem very recessed too and it is difficult at times to make out many of the words. I did wonder if what we get here was taken from a home recording of a broadcast rather than something from the BBCs own vaults but it clearly states on the cover "a BBC recording".
It is disappointing that there are no advisory warnings about the sound quality either on the packaging -or preferably on the website before one buys it as customers should be entitled to expect that something from 1974 on a label of repute like Chandos will be in decent sound.
This all the more disappointing as there are very few recordings of this opera and very few opportunities to see it performed live even in Germany and Austria. There is a DVD of the same Glyndebourne production (from a different year hence different cast) but this too suffers from the indifferent quality of the picture and the sound.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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1 review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Reposted from Superconductor: "On the Rocks with Intermezzo"
15 Mar 2011
Format:Audio CD
This is the latest in Chandos Records' trove of BBC recordings, a live performance of Richard Strauss' Intermezzo, one of the composer's most charming but least-performed operas. This high-quality 1974 performance, released in good stereo, may do much for the reputation of this neglected, underrated work.
Intermezzo (1924) is the story of a famous composer/conductor, his shrewish, difficult wife, and a misunderstanding that nearly destroys their happy marriage. The libretto, written by Strauss, was based on a real incident from his tempestuous marriage to his wife Pauline. The result: a conversation-filled series of snapshots, depicting a busy conductor, saddled with a difficult wife. The opera ends in a portrait of domestic bliss once harmony is restored.
With its quick-fire dialogue and fast-moving plot, this is an opera that is best heard in the listener's native language. In fact, Elisabeth Söderström, who sings the long, difficult role of Christine Storch on this set, wanted the complexity of the libretto to be understood by the Glyndebourne audience. The Swedish diva insisted that these performances, which marked the opera's premiere in the United Kingdom, were to be sung in English.
Ms. Söderström brings her considerable vocal resources to the role of Christine Storch, capturing the complex, multifaceted nature of the character. She is bossy, elegant, kind, shrewish, generous, rude, and occasionally condescending. But the love that Strauss had for his wife shows in the warmth of her vocal writing, even when the good lady contemplates a fling. Ms. Söderström was at an early peak when she made this recording, and having her version of this memorable role only adds to the value of this set.
She is well matched with baritone Marco Bakker in the role of Robert Storch, the composer's self-portrait. Mr. Bakker is a true baritone, and sails through the rapid-fire dialogue, coming into his own in the long duet that ends the opera. It is a pleasure also to hear Anthony Rolfe Johnson at the start of a great career, singing the role of Stroh, a fellow maestro. The similarity of the names is deliberate, leading to a case of mistaken identity that nearly sinks the Storch/Strauss marriage.
John Pritchard does well with the challenging score, leading the London Philharmonic through the many intermezzos that are scattered through the opera. (Strauss had a musical sense of humor.) The set was recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival, and the close miking, which allows listeners to hear the rustle of score pages in the orchestra pit, the breath of players and even the prompter, only lends to the sense of intimacy of a truly great evening at Britain's greatest opera festival.
Intermezzo (1924) is the story of a famous composer/conductor, his shrewish, difficult wife, and a misunderstanding that nearly destroys their happy marriage. The libretto, written by Strauss, was based on a real incident from his tempestuous marriage to his wife Pauline. The result: a conversation-filled series of snapshots, depicting a busy conductor, saddled with a difficult wife. The opera ends in a portrait of domestic bliss once harmony is restored.
With its quick-fire dialogue and fast-moving plot, this is an opera that is best heard in the listener's native language. In fact, Elisabeth Söderström, who sings the long, difficult role of Christine Storch on this set, wanted the complexity of the libretto to be understood by the Glyndebourne audience. The Swedish diva insisted that these performances, which marked the opera's premiere in the United Kingdom, were to be sung in English.
Ms. Söderström brings her considerable vocal resources to the role of Christine Storch, capturing the complex, multifaceted nature of the character. She is bossy, elegant, kind, shrewish, generous, rude, and occasionally condescending. But the love that Strauss had for his wife shows in the warmth of her vocal writing, even when the good lady contemplates a fling. Ms. Söderström was at an early peak when she made this recording, and having her version of this memorable role only adds to the value of this set.
She is well matched with baritone Marco Bakker in the role of Robert Storch, the composer's self-portrait. Mr. Bakker is a true baritone, and sails through the rapid-fire dialogue, coming into his own in the long duet that ends the opera. It is a pleasure also to hear Anthony Rolfe Johnson at the start of a great career, singing the role of Stroh, a fellow maestro. The similarity of the names is deliberate, leading to a case of mistaken identity that nearly sinks the Storch/Strauss marriage.
John Pritchard does well with the challenging score, leading the London Philharmonic through the many intermezzos that are scattered through the opera. (Strauss had a musical sense of humor.) The set was recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival, and the close miking, which allows listeners to hear the rustle of score pages in the orchestra pit, the breath of players and even the prompter, only lends to the sense of intimacy of a truly great evening at Britain's greatest opera festival.
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