Richard Strauss - Scenes from ''Elektra'' & ''Salome'' (Inge Borkh; Fritz Reiner)

Information

Composer: Richard Strauss

1. Elektra, Op. 58: Elektra Soliloquy
2. Elektra, Op. 58: Recognition Scene
3. Elektra, Op. 58: Finale
4. Salome, Op. 54: Dance of the Seven Veils
5. Salome, Op. 54: Final Scene

Inge Borkh, soprano (1-3, 5)
Frances Yeend, soprano (1-3)
Paul Schöffler, baritone (1-3)

Chicago Lyric Theater Chorus (1-3)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, conductor

Date: 1954-1956
Label: RCA

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

There’s little to add to the well-deserved accolades these cathartic, dazzlingly executed Strauss excerpts have garnered over the years. Because the original recordings stem from two-track masters, RCA’s SACD transfer does not offer a multi-channel advantage over the previous Living Stereo CD edition. Yet the SACD component yields a heftier orchestral image and greater bass-register presence that reinforces the richness of Inge Borkh’s lower tessitura (she’s no slouch when it comes to high notes either). The percussion also packs a greater punch than before, especially in the Dance of the Seven Veils. It’s not the most seductively pliable interpretation around, but what slashing sonorities and breathtaking balancing of orchestral strands Reiner achieves!

However, these sonic upgrades are not so apparent when you play this hybrid disc on a standard CD player and compare it alongside the aforementioned Living Stereo conventional CD, whose slightly brighter equalization imparts just a little more bite and definition to brass attacks. My instinct is to stick with the latter if you don’t have SACD capability. If you do, the present reissue will show off both your home equipment and your cultivated musical taste. One caveat: the Living Stereo CD contains complete texts and translations, the SACD does not

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Jan06/Strauss_Borkh_82876679002.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Strauss-Scenes-Elektra-Fritz-Reiner/dp/B0009U55S8
http://www.amazon.com/Strauss-Scenes-Salome-Elektra-Richard/dp/B000007RSZ

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Richard Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, lieder, tone poems and other orchestral works. Strauss was also a prominent conductor throughout Germany and Austria, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. Strauss made a large number of recordings, both of his own music as well as music by German and Austrian composers. Along with Gustav Mahler, Strauss represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Strauss

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Inge Borkh (born 26 May 1917 or 1921 in Mannheim) is a German soprano. She was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity. Borkh triumphed in her portrayals of the most challenging dramatic roles by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Strauss and Weber, but it was as Salome and Elektra – both by Richard Strauss – that she gained her greatest fame. Borkh was one of the leading dramatic sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s, though she recorded infrequently. She retired from opera in 1973.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inge_Borkh

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Fritz Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to prominence as a conductor with several orchestras. He reached the pinnacle of his career while music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s and early 1960s. Despite having a very wide repertory, Reiner was especially noted as an interpreter of Richard Strauss and Bartók. His conducting technique was defined by its precision and economy, in the manner of Arturo Toscanini.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Reiner

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