Die aegyptische Helena is a problem-piece, that cannot be denied. Strauss hoped for a light-hearted, satirical treatment of Helen of Troy but Hofmannsthal changed course midway and ended by complicating the plot with desert sheikhs and his fatal penchant for symbolism, this time about death and marriage. Yet Strauss summoned enthusiasm for what must have been one of his most difficult tasks and in the end declared that it had turned out ''very beautiful, brilliant yet simple'', though the last adjective is perhaps optimistic!
The opera, first performed in 1928, was not a success on stage until the current Munich production showed that it could work, and it predictably called forth the stock abuse of post-Ariadne Strauss: 'dated', 'the mixture as before', 'composing from memory', etc. Undeniably, the music is not out of his top drawer, not all of it anyway, but there is much that is powerful and inspired, while the scoring throughout is masterly and often of striking beauty.
Elsewhere I have called it Strauss's bel canto opera, and I hold to that description. It was composed just after he had been working with the great Vienna State Opera singers of the 1920s and the two principal roles of Helen and Menelaus require a dramatic soprano and Heldentenor of the finest quality. Strauss has composed exultant arias for them, of which Helen's ''Zweite Brautnacht'' is the best known, but it is not alone. There is also a delightful lyric soprano role, that of Aithra the sorceress—her scene at the start of the opera is a sign of how successful the work could have been if Hofmannsthal had continued in this vein.
The recording is a transfer of the LP set issued in 1979. Dorati drives the music hard but was obviously an enthusiast for the work and it shows. As Helen, Gwyneth Jones has moments when the radiance the part ideally needs can be glimpsed, but her familiar vocal flaws are also fully deployed. Nevertheless, she has often sung the role on stage, for which she deserves high praise, and brings real dramatic flair to it.
Unfortunately Matti Kastu (Menelaus) has all the vocal allure of a rusty fretsaw: no wonder people say Strauss hated the tenor voice (he didn't) when his music for it is sung like this. As Aithra, Barbara Hendricks is delightful and Willard White and Curtis Rayam as the desert warriors restore the male balance. Until something better comes along, Straussians must make do with this not altogether unsatisfactory performance.'