Elektra: Recordings Introduction and Survey
Hugh Canning
Opera in 1 Act, 1909
[After the band of the Grenadier Guards had played an Elektra
potpourri] His Majesty does not know what the Band has just played, but
it is never to be played again.
- King George V, quoted in Reid, Thomas Beecham, 1961.
If Richard Strauss' third opera, Salome, established his international
reputation the completion of Elektra suggested a composer who was on
the brink of breaking the mould of opera (although this was not to be,
as his next opera Der Rosenkavalier demonstrated). Elektra comprises an
immense, dissonant score and one of the most demanding parts ever
written for the female voice, with Elektra never off stage after her
first appearance. It shocks as few operas do, and weaves orchestration
of great complexity with vocal writing of thrilling power. Elektra has
not often been recorded in the studio, undoubted masterpiece that it
is, but we are fortunate to have a number of great recordings taken
from 'live' broadcasts. The aim of this survey is to guide the listener
through the recordings that are currently on the market and offer a
final recommendation, or two.
Synopsis. Using a libretto by the Austrian poet, Hugo von Hofmannsthal,
the story of Elektra is based on the play Electra by the Greek
tragedian Sophocles. The opera starts with Klytemnestra's maids washing
away the blood of her murdered husband, Agamemnon, from the palace
walls. Elektra appears and is derided by the maids.
In her first monologue, "Allein! Weh ganz allein", Elektra invokes the
spirit of her father and celebrates the day when his murder will be
avenged. Her sister, Chrysothemis, still living within the palace
walls, informs Elektra that Klytemnestra and her lover, Aegisth, are
planning to immure her in the tower where they hope she will die.
Elektra rejects these words, when noises are heard from within the
palace proclaiming a sacrificial procession. Chrysothemis explains that
their mother has suffered terrible nightmares, and in a move to
exorcise them she plans a bloody sacrifice. At this stage Elektra
determines to confront her mother and lures her out of the palace
walls.
In "Was willst du? Seht doch dort", Klytemnestra pleads with Elektra to
help rid her of the nightmares that are now ravaging her body and mind.
Elektra replies enigmatically that the sacrifice must be Klytemnestra
herself if she is to be freed from the nightmares.
Elektra then asks her mother about her brother, Orest. Klytemnestra
lies and tells Elektra that his years in the wilderness have made him
mad, a lie which leads the smoldering bitterness between the two women
to erupt into hatred. Elektra tells her mother that she will be hounded
to death and Klytemnestra retorts that Elektra herself will receive the
severest of punishments.
Klytemnestra returns to the palace walls, when Chrysothemis arrives
with news of two strangers who have testified to Orest's death.
Elektra, crushed by this news, decides she will avenge her father's
death herself. Chrysothemis, dismayed by this, flees in terror. Elektra
looks for the axe with which her father was killed and comes upon a
stranger she soon recognises as her brother, Orest! Orest!.
Angered at his duplicity, Elektra refuses his embraces. Orest leaves
her and enters the palace, whereupon she hears the screams of her
mother and later those of Aegisth. Orest is proclaimed by the people as
their savior as the palace walls drip with blood. Chrysothemis invites
her sister to join in the celebrations but Elektra, now scarcely aware
of what is happening, escapes into her own closed world and at the
climax of a joyous dance collapses lifeless to the ground. Chrysothemis
appears and calls to Orest but the palace doors remain shut.
The Music. The harmonic structure of Elektra owes a great deal to the
tonal disintegration that started with Wagner (another composer for
whom the leitmotif was an important functioning part of the
infrastructure of an opera). But it is also an opera of contrasts: both
theatrical and psychological, dissonant climaxes set against intense
lyricism (Elektra's dance of death played out against the lyricism of
the Recognition Scene between Elektra and Orest). All of this is
achieved by building up huge blocks of sound and establishing tension
between contrasting chords. The chords of B minor and F minor establish
the Elektra theme and the D minor chord that comes to symbolise
Agamemnon is set symmetrically against this. Later, when Orest returns,
set against the chord of A-flat major, the symmetry becomes complete
with the pattern of B-D-F-A-flat now established.
>From the opening, brutal triad of Elektra it is clear that Strauss
intended to explore his musical possibilities to their limit. The
score, compact yet monumental, is one of the most violent in all opera
and is composed of a series of multiple themes, all somehow
interrelated to each other. Its complexity comes down to Strauss'
ability to establish musical connections, at times hundreds of bars
apart, of simple and repeating chord progressions. Such complexity
underlines the drama of the opera and establishes Strauss as the
natural successor to Wagner. It is probably a mistake to view Elektra
as a radical work that might have allowed Strauss to write a truly
atonal masterpiece - as Schoenberg did progressing from Gurrelieder to
Moses and Aaron. Strauss' next work, Der Rosenkavalier, shuffled off
many of the coils of atonal development he might have pursued, and
allowed him to produce probably the most Romantic work of the century.
In a transparent performance of Elektra this development can clearly be
seen.
A Survey of Recordings
Like Verdi's La Traviata, Elektra is an opera that depends, entirely or
otherwise, on the merits of the protagonist. Just as Violetta dominates
Verdi's great opera, so Elektra carries that of Strauss: she must
encompass a vast range of emotion with a voice that requires her to
reach the depths of despair as well as the heights of ecstasy and
histrionicism. For this reason, the best Elektras have often been great
Wagnerians (although not exclusively).
The earliest recording of the opera derives from a 1937 concert
performance with Rose Pauly in the role of Elektra. Pauly was the most
celebrated Elektra of the 1930s and all subsequent performances rest
somewhat in the shadows of this titanic and electrifying
interpretation.
The voice is pure in the upper staves (important in this opera), and
has marvellous power in reserve for her confrontation with Klytemnestra
(a noble interpretation from Enid Szánthó). Pauly's singing at the
climax of Klytemnestra's murder is unsurpassed on record - it truly
terrifies as no other interpretation has since, and her ecstatic waltz
has real power (as a performance it is unmatched). None of this would
be possible without the other great protagonist in this opera - the
conductor. Artur Rodzinsky was a superb Strauss conductor and he leads
the New York Philharmonic through Strauss' complex score with
magnificent aplomb.
There are draw backs to this recording. Firstly, it is incomplete and
heavily cut to allow for a concert performance. Secondly, the sound is
at times very distorted, and at times very crackly, although the voices
sound real and focused. It remains, however, an indispensable recording
and is on Eklipse EKRCD17 at full-price.
Ten years later, another great interpretation was put down on tape. Sir
Thomas Beecham's 1947 recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
has the advantage of very good sound and another interpreter of some
stature, Erna Schlüter. Beecham had had a long association with this
opera, conducting the British premier in 1910, the first Strauss opera
to be performed in Britain.
Beecham's mastery of the score is total - brass snarl like on few other
recordings and listening to Klytemnestra's procession in Beecham's
hands you might well think it could not be excelled so trenchant and
possessed is the playing. Indeed, throughout this performance it is the
orchestra that leaves the most indelible impression. Schlüter could be
unsteady at the top of the treble stave, and this is evident in her
confrontation with Klytemnestra, but what makes this interpretation so
special is her nobility and beauty of expression. It is one of the most
vivid performances on record. For sheer greatness, however, listen to
Elisabeth Höngen (another superb Wagnerian) as Klytemnestra. She is
unrivaled. The close of the opera is high voltage, Strauss' great
chords brought down with absolute finality, Beecham at his most
exciting. The recording is on Myto 981.H004, 2 CDs, at upper mid-price.
A slightly earlier recording of Erna Schlüter in the title role comes
from 1944. Conducted by Eugen Jochum and the Hamburg Philharmonic
Orchestra, it is a very different interpretation from her one with
Beecham. The voice is certainly more secure, partly driven by Jochum's
luminous and agile conducting. And it is certainly darker and more
austere than in her later recording.
Jochum, a great conductor of Bruckner, builds Strauss' great blocks of
sound into a sumptuous canvas, one that generates considerable fervor.
Elektra's monologue, Was bluten muss?, literally stings, so compelling
are Jochum and Schlüter. In the Recognition Scene, one of the most
lyrical passages of the opera, Schlüter caresses her notes so that
they equal the warmth of the Hamburg strings - a most beautiful effect.
Schlüter is wonderful during the drama of Klytemnestra's murder,
feverish and intense, Jochum producing climaxes of thunderous impact.
Jochum's final waltz, whilst lacking the drama of Rodzinsky or Beecham,
is played with considerable textural weight, the 1944 recording more
than amplifying the passion of it all. When the final chords smash down
the effect seems all the more moving.
Jochum's recording is on Lys LYS255-256, volume 3 of its Eugen Jochum
edition, at full price.
Dmitri Mitropoulos was an inspirational conductor, particularly in
Strauss whom he appears to have conducted with considerable insight.
Any one of his three recordings could make a first choice in this
opera. In two of them, he has as his Elektra probably the greatest
exponent of the role in the latter half of the century, Inge Borkh.
Mitropoulos was a consistent advocate of this opera, all three of his
interpretations marked by his typically illuminating and penetrating
treatment of the score.
His 1951 recording, 'live' from Florence, has Anny Konetzni as Elektra.
It is a beautiful reading of the role, and is complimented by a
marvellous Klytemnestra from Martha Mödl, fully endowing her character
with the riddled anxiety that haunts her last hours. It is on Fonit
Cetra CD04 at bargain price, but is ultimately an appetizer for his New
York and Salzburg recordings.
The first Borkh/Mitropoulos Elektra comes from the 1957 Salzburg
Festival. Mitropoulos' mastery of the score is totally evident,
although this is a noticeably slower performance than his Florence
recording. As a result, it is imbued with a power that eludes the
earlier performance - rarely has the Recognition Scene appeared so
dark, the Vienna Philharmonic producing glorious lower strings to
highlight this. The effect is sumptuous, at once caressing the ears,
only to be disturbed by the inexorable pungency of Mitropoulos' pacing
of the great climaxes. This is first and foremost a commanding
rendition of the score . Only Karajan and Carlos Kleiber match the
pulse Mitropoulos sets. The effect is always breathtaking, and no
orchestra (bar one) plays this music with such nobility and animation.
Inge Borkh's Elektra is as complete as any, a consummate personality
and sung with superb virtuosity. The recording appears at full price on
Orfeo C 456 972 1.
Crotchet Amazon USA
Less than a year later, Borkh sang Elektra again with Mitropoulos, this
time at a concert performance with the New York Philharmonic in March
1958. The sound is not as focused as in Salzburg, but all of those
characteristics that imbue Mitropoulos' Strauss are readily heard.
Nevertheless, it remains firmly in the shadows of the great Salzburg
reading. It appears on Arkadia MP 459.3 (coupled with a fine Salome) at
bargain price.
Inge Borkh makes two more appearances on disc as Elektra, one 'live'
and one studio. The 'live' recording comes from a 1953 Frankfurt
performance conducted by Kurt Schröder. It is marked by a truly
overwhelming Recognition Scene which allows Borkh to colour her voice
utterly uniquely. She never surpassed this, and the effect is so creamy
as to remind one of the Trio of Der Rosenkavalier. However, Schröder
is not an electrifying conductor and this performance fails to ignite
as a great performance of Elektra should. It is on Golden Melodram GM
30007 at full price.
Amazon USA
Borkh's studio performance, however, is an entirely different matter.
Conducted by Karl Böhm, this is the first stereo Elektra. It also has
the Dresden Staatskapelle. Even more so than the Vienna Philharmonic,
this orchestra totally understands Strauss' idiom: it premiered many of
his works and plays with that unique sound only an orchestra who has
worked with a composer can. It plays faultlessly, and Böhm's tempi,
often very fast, add an excitement to the playing that makes the brass
snarl and roar as on no other recording, the woodwind chatter and
whisper incomparably and the strings dig in with tremendous depth.
Under Böhm the opera has intense momentum, although it is never
overplayed, and in many parts Böhm makes more of the great, sweeping
Romantic melodies than conductors who are more measured in this opera.
Inge Borkh is almost near perfect as Elektra, her singing, as only a
true actress can, illuminating the hysteria, compassion, love and
determination of her creation. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a meltingly
deep toned Orest (the Recognition Scene is magical) and more than copes
with the strains of the extended range of Orest's music. All in all, a
remarkable recording. It is at mid-price on Deutsche Grammophon
4453292.
Crotchet
Another Salzburg recording offers a truly titanic reading of this
opera. It is conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Karajan never recorded
Elektra commercially, primarily because he found the work left him
totally exhausted and emotionally drained (he found Mahler's Ninth,
Sibelius' Fourth and Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra similarly
difficult). This recording is, therefore, a very important document by
the finest Strauss conductor this century, and encapsulated in it is
the Elektra of Astrid Varnay.
She is miraculous in many ways: she has enormous reserves of vocal
stamina and she understands the role perfectly. Iciness makes way for
compassion, her outbursts have volcanic potency and savagery in the
voice appears when needed. She is capable of the utmost tenderness in
her luminous reading of the Recognition Scene. The Klytemnestra of
Martha Mödl is tinged with greatness, whilst Eberhard Waechter's Orest
is imbued with a beautifully deployed baritonal sonority.
But it is to Karajan one returns. The Vienna Philharmonic plays with
great beauty under him - but in turn produces outbursts of overwhelming
drama. It is all so intense, but also so very transparent. Every note
comes through Karajan's hands played with supreme balance and the
effect is totally memorable. The recording appears on Orfeo C298 922 1,
at full-price.
Amazon USA
The most recent Elektra to appear on disc is Carlos Kleiber's legendary
1977 performance from Covent Garden (reviewed in May). This is a
staggering, almost overwhelming vision, with Birgit Nilsson magnificent
in the title role. Kleiber, like Karajan and Mitropoulos before him,
takes a large-scale, symphonic view of Strauss' score - and the results
are towering. As one would expect of a conductor who has performed Der
Rosenkavalier so many times, Kleiber does not see Elektra exclusively
as a dissonant work - there is much beauty in Kleiber's handling of the
darker, more lyrical passages that pre-empts Strauss' most Romantic
opera.
Birgit Nilsson is finer here than she was for Solti, the voice
powerful, but her characterisation and inflection somehow more aware of
Elektra's vulnerability. All her notes are still met with cut-glass
clarity and precision, as they were for Solti. Gwyneth Jones struggles
as Chrysothemis, giving us many more notes than are in the score, but
she is moving and compelling. This is a case where a singer's
understanding and empathy with a character are more than sufficient to
overcome the glaring technical shortfall. The Orchestra play
wonderfully - quite the equal of the Vienna Philharmonic or the Dresden
Staatskapelle. The sound is generally satisfactory. A sensational
performance, it appears on Golden Melodram GM 6.0001
Two discs from House of Opera offer the prospect of fascinating
performances. The first is of Christian Thielmann's Covent Garden
Elektra from 1997. I remember this as a superlative performance, which
showed a young German conductor prepared to look back to the great
Strauss traditions of Karajan and Böhm. Böhm is the conductor in a
1975 Paris performance that has Nilsson, Rysanek, Varnay and Hans Sotin
amongst its cast. Wonders indeed! I hope to review both of these discs
in the near future.
Two studio performances deserve mention. Recorded more than 30 years
apart, the Elektras of Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado and Wolfgang
Sawallisch are all thrilling readings.
Solti's recording (see review and technical appraisal), long considered
one of the gramophone's classics, is an exciting affair, and has for
its Elektra, Birgit Nilsson. Nilsson's approach to the role could be
thought by some to be too overpowering, but there is no doubt the voice
is in magnificent form. High Bs and Cs are met with absolute
perfection, and the voice triumphantly rides above the orchestra when
its needs to but one often feels that Nilsson lacks some of Borkh's
colour, her palate being all too often Wagnerian in a role that,
although dramatic, also requires subtlety. The Vienna Philharmonic are
in glorious form for Solti, as they are for Abbado 30 years later.
Sawallisch's Elektra bears all of the hallmarks of his great recording
of Die Frau ohne Schatten (possibly the finest ever recorded) - great
transparency, an unnerving sense of a drama unfolding and a great
rapport with his singers. Eva Marton is very fine in the title role,
and absolutely compelling in her closing scene. What makes this
recording so recommendable is the incomparable Chrysothemis of Cheryl
Studer, the playing of the Vienna Philharmonic and the engineering.
>From a purely sound point this recording is thrilling - totally clear
and allowing one to hear Strauss' opulence and dissonance as it might
in the opera house. A wonderful, fully aural experience, as spectacular
as any since CDs were first released. Both Solti's and Sawallisch's
recordings appear at full price on Decca and EMI respectively. The
catalogue numbers are: 417 345-2 (Solti) and
7-54067-2 (Sawallisch).
Solti Crotchet Amazon UK
Sawallisch Crotchet Amazon UK Amazon USA
Conclusions.
Strauss' Elektra has been lucky in its interpreters and one hopes that
'live' recordings by Bruno Walter, Erich Kleiber and Sir Colin Davis
might one day find their way onto disc to add to the discography of
this greatest of twentieth century operas.
Meanwhile, we have the glorious live performance from Vienna by Claudio
Abbado and Eva Marton, Cheryl Studer, and Brigitte Fassbaender. That
special evening of 10 June 1989 was luckily captured on video. It is
widely available on DVD, Laserdisc and VHS.
Any ideal performance of Elektra requires a combination of great vocal
singing and a masterfully rendered score. All of the versions listed
above would make an ideal choice but the two versions that meet these
criteria more than any other are Herbert von Karajan's 1964 Salzburg
Festival performance and Carlos Kleiber's 1977 Covent Garden recording.
In both, the transparency is marvellous - with both conductors at the
very peak of their form - and both have thrillingly sung Elektras in
Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson. Inge Borkh's 1957 Salzburg Elektra
with Dmitri Mitropoulos is narrowly preferable to her studio recording
with Böhm, although that performance alone is worth acquiring for the
superb playing of the Dresden Staatskapelle. Sawallisch is as exciting
as Solti (whose advantage over all others is to present the score
uncut) and has wonderful engineering to support his direction of the
work. I cannot easily choose between Karajan and Kleiber, both of whom
bring that something extra to this endlessly fascinating work. I must,
therefore, recommend both.
Availablility
On-line slaes links have been made where possible. The Abbado,
Sawallisch, Solti, Beecham, Mitropoulos (Salzburg), Karajan (Salzburg)
and the Bohm are all readily available from Tower or HMV. Both Salzburg
recordings can be difficult to locate at times.
The Schroder and Kleiber should be available from MDC's Opera music
shop on the Strand, although the Kleiber is VERY hard to find.
The Mitropoulos on Arkadia and the Mitropoulos on Fonit Cetra are both
unavailable, although I recommend hunting for them on the following
link:<http://musicfile.com/>Welcome to MusicFile: The World's Largest
Collectible Music Store!
Matthew B. Tepper
caused the following letters to be typed in
news:3mp7v0ljav4hu1gj5...@4ax.com:
> "Hugh Canning" <HugeCan...@yahoo.com> plagiarized on 23 Jan 2005
> 09:37:07 -0800:
>
>> If Richard Strauss' third opera, Salome, established his international
>
> http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2000/july00/elektra.htm
>
> Bampot!
Never heard or saw that term before (a Google search suggests it is
Scottish slang for a crazy person), but it certainly applies to Pinheid.
Thank you for snipping from your response what must have been a long and
tiresome post trumpeting some equally tiresome female singer.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Take THAT, Daniel Lin, Mark Sadek, James Lin & Christopher Chung!
Michael Schaffer
REG
> Where is Sinopoli in that survey?
Is that the one with the overparted, anonymous, and clueless
transsexual-lover Alessandra Marc as Elektra and the stupid Debbie
"crayola" Void as her lil' sis? And with the VPO "on all cylinders",
as it was crudely advertised at the time of release? Lil' wonder it's
MIA.
REG
Michael Schaffer
"REG" <veryyo...@yahoo.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:1107100617.2...@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Thank you for sharing your detailed musical insights.
Matthew B. Tepper
letters to be typed in news:yfeLd.220$mt.12@fed1read03:
> Thank you for sharing your detailed musical insights.
Thank you for feeding the Pinheid troll.
Michael Schaffer
"Matthew B. Tepper" <oy兀earthlink.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Xns95EEA04C370...@207.217.125.201...
> "Michael Schaffer" <msch...@gmx.net> appears to have caused the
following
> letters to be typed in news:yfeLd.220$mt.12@fed1read03:
>
> > Thank you for sharing your detailed musical insights.
>
> Thank you for feeding the Pinheid troll.
What is the Pinheid troll?
REG
rec.music.opera, but from a troll.
REG
"Michael Schaffer" <msch...@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:yfeLd.220$mt.12@fed1read03...
Matthew B. Tepper
> "Matthew B. Tepper" <oy兀earthlink.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:Xns95EEA04C370...@207.217.125.201...
>> "Michael Schaffer" <msch...@gmx.net> appears to have caused the
>> following letters to be typed in news:yfeLd.220$mt.12@fed1read03:
>>
>> > Thank you for sharing your detailed musical insights.
>>
>> Thank you for feeding the Pinheid troll.
>
> What is the Pinheid troll?
*sigh*
gggg gggg
(2022 Y. upload):
"FIRST recording of Richard Strauss' Elektra (1937 live; Rose Pauly, Huehn, Jagel, cond. Rodzinski)"