Cheap Frau Ohne Schatten (Music) (R. Strauss, Rysanek, Nilsson, Bohm, Vso) Price

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Customer Reviews of Frau Ohne Schatten

The triumph of Bohm
When I was thirteen years old,in 1976, the San Francisco Opera announced the return to the repertory of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, to be performed in the fall season. I wasn't familiar with the work, but I was a big Karl Bohm fan (I collected his Mozart opera recordings) and as it had been announced that he would be conducting the run of performances, I knew that I had to see one of the evenings. I convinced my parents to get Sunday-matinee tickets for my brother and I, and we went. Needless to say, my life was changed forever. Rysanek, Berry, Hesse, Matti Kastu (as the Emperor) and Ursula Schroeder-Feinen (as the Dyer's Wife) inhabited their roles completely and fearlessly, and sang like deities. But it was Bohm who was the true hero of the day. A personal friend of Strauss, he had championed this opera for several decades, and was primarily responsible for its entry into the international repertoire. His love for the opera shone through every bar. No-one else has captured the prayerful aspect of the Barak's Goodness orchestral interlude in Act I, right down to the repeated "amen"s in the lower strings at the end of the passage. Who else whips the orchestra into such a frenzy as Empress and Nurse soar through the air from heaven to earth, making the thickening of the smog and feel of the dust almost palpable as they descend. And who else has caught the magical serenity of the closing bars of the opera so surely, yet played them so lightly with such a gossamer touch? Solti and Sawallisch, for all their expertise (and the highly touted "note-complete" performances they conduct) remain earthbound and dully prosaic next to Bohm. "Unidiomatic" is the kindest word I can come up with to describe their approaches. Listening to their recordings is rather like listening to a provincial foreign actor play King Lear with a heavy accent; with Bohm, we're in Olivier territory. And this 1977 taping from the ORF (Austrian Radio) does not disappoint. The Vienna Philharmonic is a vast improvement over the mid-1970's San Francisco Opera orchestra, and James King is far preferable to Kastu, a Finnish heldentenor who never made much headway in the States. I will go out on a limb and say I regret that Schroeder-Feinen was not cast in the Vienna performance. Her voice was youthful yet large, with a lyric quality that by 1977 was sadly absent from Nilsson's portrayal. This is a minor quibble, though. This recording really is an essential performance; even with cuts it blows Solti and Sawallisch out of the water. I must just relate an interesting bit of stage business. When the Messenger banished the evil Nurse to the world of men in Act III, Ruth Hesse let out a groan to shake the rafters (you can hear it on this recording), threw her arms into the air and fell backwards into the boat, which then floated offstage with the Nurse clutching desperately to the mast and looking wildly about like a cornered beast. That was theatre!

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Nilsson finally captured
For someone like myself who has heard every note Nilsson sang on recordings, this CD of Die Frau is beyond description. Nilsson always posed a challenge to sound engineers. It was always difficult to hear her true beauty on recordings. When this CD came out, I was smilling when she began to sing. This is exactly how she sounded in San Francisco on September 30, 1980 when I heard her perform this role.
I had another opportunity to see and hear her. The place was Wilmington, Delaware. The date was April 13, 1988. She was at the Wilmington Opera House to conduct a master class. All of the students were from the Academy of the Vocal Arts and The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In all honesty, I learned more about Nilsson on this day than I did In 1980.
At the end of the program, she invited people to ask her some questions. One of the most notable ones was the one about her most difficult singing role. She said that all of them posed their own challenges. But the man was persistent. I was seated in the front row and I thought I could offer her some help. I said softly," Die Frau?" She looked at me, and then looked at the audience with somewhat vacant and inward searching eyes and replied, "Yes. I would have to say Die Frau Ohne Schatten. When I first learned it, it was so difficult to learn on the piano. The range of octaves and the tempi were very confusing. But when I began rehearsals with the orchestra, everything fell into place."
In short, if you have heard other renditions of Die Frau Ohne Schatten and were disapointed with the sound or the bizzare plot, don't worry. Buy this recording as fast as you can before it vanishes.

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MAGNIFICENT POETRY BY R STRAUSS
R Strauss created a fairytale of profound symbolism and of the deepest emotional content with the Shadowless Woman. In this performance perfection is achieved at all levels.

The ultimate star of the evening is the Legendary Leonie Rysanec who sings the role of Keiserin as no other even got close to. The drama in her voice is of the highest quality, a Callas quality I'd say, the use of her high notes is amazing as they cut the heavy orchestration and chorus like a laser beam but above all it is the heartstoping use of her lower register that makes this performance unforgetable and referential. When the Keiserin refuses to take the Shadow from the Dyer's Wife, Leonie says the words: "Ich will nicht" (I will not) as if they were the last words she would utter in her life... The Straussian genius then shines as from the heavy drama of Keiserin's words we pass to the most exquisite Lyricism of a solo violin which symbolizes the Tears of the Emperess which ultimately bring the Emperor back to life from his Stone Transformation. Indeed this scene is one of the most Impressive Moments of the 20th century Operatic repertoire.

Birgit Nilsson donates the diamond clarity of her phenomenal voice to the role of the Dyer's Wife whom she sings archetypically and can only be rivalled by Christa Ludwig's who gave us the most memorable portrait of the Dyer's Wife.

The rest of the cast sings as if they are inspired by R Strauss himself and Bohm conducts with so much passion it is hard to believe. The sound is perfect and that makes this recording one of the best made in the 20th century.
The difficult High Drama of R Strauss finds in this recording the ideal interpretation...