Cheap Strauss: Salome (Music) (Richard Strauss, Sir Georg Solti, Birgit Nilsson, Grace Hoffmann, Wiener Philharmoniker, Gerhard Stolze, Waldemar Kmentt, Eberhard Wächter, Tom Krause, Nigel Douglas) Price

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Customer Reviews of Strauss: Salome

Alternative Recording
I have another performance of Salome to recommend - the live Birgit Nilsson under Ornamenti FE also available from Amazon.com. Birgit Nilsson is in sensational voice for that performance on Sep 12, 1965 at Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires - reputedly one of the opera houses with the best acoustics in the world. The recording balance favors the voices so that you can hear her blasting you literally with her magnificent voice. Grace Hoffman is superb as Herodias although I have heard her sing better in other recordings. Eberhard Wachter is also superb as Jokanaan. Fritz Uhl is simply terrific as Herod. The voices are generally in the foreground and the orchestra in the background. I give that Salome 5 stars - mainly because of the superb singing, in particular, Birgit Nilsson, whom you can listen up close. You feel like you are in the front seat and she is directly in front of you (much like the Tristan with Bohm). This is a welcome change from the Decca recordings where she is sometimes placed quite far back. Here, she blasts at your fortissimo with that incredible instrument of hers. That is a rare opera recording - hard to find. When you find it, grab it.

As for this recording, it too is a classic so grab it too!!!

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Opera At Its Most Visceral: A Masterpiece
Richard Strauss based his 1905 opera "Salome" on the already banned play by Oscar Wilde. In Edwardian England, where formality and strict Conservative values were still upheld, the story of Salome's lust for John the Baptist and her necrophilic kiss on his severed head was far too shocking. Nowadays, in the wake of glorified gore in violent tv programming and movies, this is nothing to become upset about.

Rather, the intensity of the opera, as conveyed through Strauss' music and on this recording aptly interpreted by the Vienna Orchestra, prove to be extremely effective to the "insanity" of the emotions. The music is erratic, nearly Wagnerian in its daring dissonance. Salome is sung by the great soprano Birgit Nilsson, who has been hailed as the greatest Brunhilde of all time. Her voice has many textures, rich, dramatic, powerful, yet vulnerable and light, and her Salome is perfect. Although to look at Birgit Nilsson in person she could not look like the young, troubled teen Salome. Nevertheless, in a recording, visuals and appearances don't matter. It's all about the voice. Birgit Nilsson really dazzles the listener in this recording. Just listen to her! Especially in the final scene, the shocking scene, in which, after frustrated for not having Jochanan (John the Baptist) as her lover, she decides to have his head on a platter.
This is in the Bible, although we don't know for sure if it even happened. Perhaps later Chrisitians wrote this to make John the Baptist, who was closely involved with Jesus, into a Christian martyr as well. Perhaps Salome was infatuated by him after all, and although a princess could have anything she wanted, she could not have John the Baptist, for he was highly religious, pure and abstained from secular pleasures. This could have prompted her to listen to her mother, Queen Herodia's wishes to have John the Baptist's head on a platter. And we know why Herodias wanted John's head. John never approved of her illicit marriage and relationship with Herod. We must really acknowledge that it was ultimately Salome's decision. She could not have been that youngignorant. She was a mature young woman, a princess, and in a powerful position. She was also very sexy, by most accounts.. after all, she aroused Herod, her own father and the other men at his party when she danced the Dance of the Seven Veils.
George Solti conducts with his usual grandeur, precision and magnetism. It's really the best of the Salome recordings.

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Amazon Keeps Selling Discontinued Version Of Salome
Amazon needs to get with the program and stop selling this discontinued version of Salome. This recording has been reissued by Decca, using the SAME CATALOG number, with different artwork and a vastly cleaner, remastered version of the recording. There's just no excuse for Amazon to keep selling and shipping this inferior, past version of the recording. Decca is using the same SKUs and catalog numbers for all the remastered Solti recordings, evidently hoping to sell through the old stock. But all the other Solti Strauss recordings are now available in the new, remastered and re-packaged versions, only this Salome keeps hanging around the Amazon warehouse.