Solti's now-infamous comment that the Chicago Symphony was a provincial orchestra before he appeared is further discounted by the reissue of these unrivalled performances. None of Reiner's successors as a Strauss conductor, neither Solti himself, Kempe nor Sawallisch, seems quite to achieve the clarity of texture, mastery of line and intensity of feeling displayed in these recordings of 35 years and more ago, nor has any orchestra, certainly not the CSO of Solti's day, evinced the richness and brilliance of sound found here. Above all, Reiner brought to these scores, especially Elektra, a classic grandeur of utterance, a saturated sound that overwhelms the ear without ever deafening it. Perhaps these impressions are enhanced by the superb recording, preferable to so much that passes for good sound today. The fidelity, even balance and deep sonority of this early stereo in Chicago is truly amazing. Just as arresting is the perfect placing of the voices in relation to the orchestra. So retrospective plaudits to Richard Mohr and his team.
To complete one's pleasure comes the singing: it would be hard to hear any of the roles, save that of Chrysothemis, better taken. As I recall from hearing her in the part, Borkh had every quality, of voice and acting, for Elektra, and her singing of the part is caught here at the height of her powers, a powerful, effortless, imposing tone that never wobbles, never goes off pitch, one that is used—as in the 'complete' recording under Bohm (DG, 8/91)—unflinchingly to project Elektra's single-minded purpose. Here she is partnered by the most sympathetic and authoritative of all interpreters of Orestes in Schoeffler. Their account of the Recognition Scene is enough to move one to tears. Only Yeend as Chrysothemis in the opera's finale is out of her element.
Borkh was also renowned as Salome and here, with Reiner in inspired support, shows why. She is equal to every demand of the taxing finale and evokes all the lascivious, crazed characteristics of the part, without resort to exaggerated histrionics: the music is never vulgarized or over-heated, beyond what the score dictates, by either soprano or conductor. Once again the recording fully supports the performers. The same can be said of the ''Dance of the Seven Veils''. Highly recommend-ed—and, at mid-price, a real bargain.'