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Strauss: Elektra / Schuster, Herlitzius, Nylund, Albrecht, Netherlands Philharmonic
Release Date: 01/08/2012
Label: Challenge Catalog #: 72565 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Richard Strauss
Performer: Camilla Nylund, Michaela Schuster, Evelyn Herlitzius, Hubert Delamboye, ...
Conductor: Marc Albrecht
Orchestra/Ensemble: Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Toonkunst Chorus
Number of Discs: 2 Hybrid SACDs
EAN: 0608917256529
Works on This Recording
1. Elektra, Op. 58 by Richard Strauss
Performer: Camilla Nylund (Soprano), Michaela Schuster (Mezzo Soprano), Evelyn Herlitzius (Soprano),
Hubert Delamboye (Tenor), Gerd Grochowski (Bass Baritone)
Conductor: Marc Albrecht
Orchestra/Ensemble: Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Toonkunst Chorus
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1906-1908; Germany
Notes and Editorial Reviews
This recording of Richard Strauss's opera Elektra by De Nederlandse Opera (The Netherlands Opera) was made in November 2011 at the Amsterdam Music Theatre. In addition to an impressive cast, it features the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toonkunst Choir Amsterdam conducted by Marc Albrecht.
The Netherlands Opera (DNO) is the Netherlands' largest opera company and is based in The Amsterdam Music Theatre. It has grown into one of Europe's most prominent and progressive opera companies under the leadership of artistic director Pierre Audi and managing director Truze Lodder. Since the 2011-2012 season Marc Albrecht has been the chief conductor of both DNO and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Marc Albrecht is known for his interpretations of works by Wagner and Richard Strauss, and of contemporary music, and has been a guest conductor with many top orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Richard Strauss's opera Elektra received its world premiere on January 25th 1909 in the Hofoper in Dresden. Despite being based on ancient Greek mythology, the opera is highly modernistic and expressionist in style, and shocked audiences at the time with its raw, brutal and bloodthirsty approach to its subject.
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This surprise entry into the by-now crowded Elektra discography deserves attention. Recorded live in Amsterdam during October, 2011, it's a tight, wiry show, driving Strauss' phenomenal score to its inevitable conclusion like a thoroughbred. The peaceful interlude of the Recognition Scene rarely has seemed so poignant, so necessary, so earned by Elektra, who, of course we know, still has some trouble ahead of her. The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Marc Albrecht, the newly appointed head of the Netherlands Opera, and it bodes well for that institution: he's thrilling and in control, and while he holds nothing back, he doesn't try to drown the singers in sound. (The fine recording helps tremendously, but one can tell.) The performance picks us up and will not let go—it's a tidal wave of convulsions.
In the title role, Evelyn Herlitzius begins with one or three slightly wavering tones (I assume sopranos don't warm up much before this role) but is at full throttle by the end of her monologue; she gains in strength and subtlety as she goes along and paints a portrait of a woman so obsessed that she's frightening (Albrecht's refusal to let her rest does wonders for the loony quality). Her initial interview with Chrysothemis is tinged with nastiness; she's horrifically sarcastic with Klytemnestra; she is pleading and seems almost to convince her sister in their second scene, and so lovely and helpless with Orest that she's heartbreaking. Her high C at the end of Klytemnestra scene is laser-like in its intensity, and her diction throughout is superb. Forget about the occasional imperfect note.
Camilla Nylund, hardly a small-voiced Chrysothemis, has a brilliant, easy top and a nice, human way about her predicament—a perfect foil for Elektra. Manuela Schuster sings every note of Klytemnestra's music, and we can feel her confidence and arrogance slip until what she (wrongly) thinks is a victory; her laugh, as she leaves the scene, is up there with Regina Resnik's on Decca under Solti. Gerd Grochowski's Orest is strong yet loving and warm, and Hubert Delamboye is a finely drunken Aegisth. The maids are a bunch of nasty Valkyries.
This is among a bevy of fine recordings of this work on CD: the Nilsson/Solti on Decca must take first place, but Jochum leading the crazed Erna Schlüter on Acanta (from 1944) is dynamite, and the Borkh/Böhm still thrills. But this one will not disappoint.
-- Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com
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Gramophone Magazine April 2013
If there's such a thing as an anti-Solti Elektra, this is it...[it] burns at its own distinctive temperature, with a strong sense of live-performance through-line and in a much more orchestrally integrated approach...because the performances does all the right things, you reach the end emotionally but not aurally exhausted.
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Sunday Times 20th January 2013
[Herlitzius's] lean, bright, penetrating soprano may not be as alluring as those of famous recorded Elektras...but her mastery of the notes and the text, and her understanding of both the ferociously vindictive and the tender aspects of the character's psychology, are so complete that she rivets attention from start to finish...A must for Straussians.
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AllMusic Review by Blair Sanderson [-]
Challenge Classics' audiophile presentation of Richard Strauss' one-act opera Elektra deserves serious attention for the excitement of the Netherlands Opera's production, which was recorded in October 2011, and for the excellence of the SACD/DSD format, which gives listeners real value for the price. The cast, which features Evelyn Herlitzius as Elektra, and includes Michaela Schuster as Clytemnestra, Camilla Nylund as Chrysothemis, Hubert Delamboye as Aegisthus, and Gerd Grochowski as Orestes, meets Strauss' extreme vocal demands, though Herlitzius especially possesses the stamina and emotional power to carry her role to its grim end. Marc Albrecht, a respected authority on Strauss' operatic music, leads the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra with energy and urgency, so the suspense and violence of the intense score come across with disturbing vividness and considerable shock value, particularly in the explosive brass and percussion, the grinding dissonances, and in the truly sinister sonorities in the low register. While it is relatively short and still recognizably tonal (despite Strauss' attempt to push his music to the edge of atonality), Elektra is not an easy opera to appreciate because of its psychological complexity. Furthermore, the libretto is only provided in German in the hardcover package, so listeners who require a translation will need to look elsewhere. But if any modern recording can be recommended as a valuable introduction to this work, this one certainly works well for its sustained power and transparent reproduction.
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Auftakt einer Opern-Reihe bei Challenge Classics
Marc Albrecht, der neue Chefdirigent der Nederlandse Opera, ist für seine Wagner- und Strauss-Deutungen sowie als Interpret zeitgenössischer Musik bekannt. Mit der Live-Aufnahme von „Elektra“ vom November 2011 aus Amsterdam startet Challenge Classics mit einer neuen DNO-Opern-Reihe, die sowohl Standardwerke wie Raritäten und Zeitgenössische Opern enthalten wird.
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Rezensionen
,,Die stärksten Argumente für diese Live-Aufnahme aus Amsterdam sind Dirigent Marc Albrecht, das Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra und das exzellente Klangbild: Live-Atmosphäre und Digitaltechnik in nahezu idealer Kombination ..."
(stereoplay, Februar 2013)
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