R Strauss Freidenstag
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Strauss
Genre:
Opera
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 9/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 77
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 556850-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Friedenstag |
Richard Strauss, Composer
Alfred Kuhn, Musketeer, Bass Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Bavarian State Opera Chorus Bernd Weikl, Commandant, Tenor Cornelia Wulkopf, Woman of the People, Mezzo soprano Eduardo Villa, A Piedmontese, Tenor Florian Cerny, Officer, Baritone Gerhard Auer, Bugler, Baritone Jaakko Ryhänen, Sergeant, Bass Jan Vacik, Rifleman, Tenor Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Corporal, Bass Karl Helm, Prelate, Bass Kurt Moll, Holsteiner, Bass Richard Strauss, Composer Robert Schunk, Burgomaster, Tenor Sabine Hass, Maria, Soprano Thomas Woodman, Front-Line Officer Wolfgang Sawallisch, Conductor |
Author: Alan Blyth
In 1988, the Munich Festival presented every one of the operas of its native son, Richard Strauss. The late William Mann, whose volume on the genre (Richard Strauss: A critical study of the operas; Cassell: 1964) is a classic, was in attendance. In his review for Opera he commented that the concert performance of Friedenstag was to be issued on CD the following year. In fact it has taken 11 years for the recording to be released, at least in this country.
The work has always been frowned on, even in the most exalted circles of Strauss aficionados, but every time I hear it – most recently in another live performance, that with the cast of the 1938 premiere listed above – I am moved by the passion and sincerity of the relationship between the seemingly strict, militaristic Commandant and his wife Maria, starved of love and affection as her husband devotes all his energies to prosecution of his part in the Thirty Years War. Admittedly much of the first part of the 80-minute, one-act work is less than inspired but once the tortured, uptight Commandant takes centre-stage, the composer’s inspiration takes off.
This splendidly committed performance offers excellent advocacy for the opera. Sawallisch, then in charge of the Bavarian State Opera, was and is the most authoritative among today’s Strauss conductors. His reading here and the playing of his orchestra are convincing and technically assured. The role of the Commandant was written for Hans Hotter and he sings it superbly on the Koch Schwann/Vienna State Opera set, but Weikl is almost in his noble predecessor’s class. At the peak of his career in 1988 he pours out strong, untiring tone and conveys all the man’s inner agony evinced in his relationship with his troops and with his wife.
As Maria, Sabine Hass, who recently died while still in her forties, could have no better memorial than this assumption, her impassioned, rich-toned voice soaring to the heights as she seeks to rekindle her husband’s interest in her: Mann commented that she sang the part ‘more movingly than anything I have heard her do’. The role seems to draw the best from its interpreters – Viorica Ursuleac gives a blinding performance on the alternative set. That has, on the whole, the better support, but of course the new version is far better recorded and will satisfy anyone wanting to add the piece – a snip on one CD – to their collection.'
The work has always been frowned on, even in the most exalted circles of Strauss aficionados, but every time I hear it – most recently in another live performance, that with the cast of the 1938 premiere listed above – I am moved by the passion and sincerity of the relationship between the seemingly strict, militaristic Commandant and his wife Maria, starved of love and affection as her husband devotes all his energies to prosecution of his part in the Thirty Years War. Admittedly much of the first part of the 80-minute, one-act work is less than inspired but once the tortured, uptight Commandant takes centre-stage, the composer’s inspiration takes off.
This splendidly committed performance offers excellent advocacy for the opera. Sawallisch, then in charge of the Bavarian State Opera, was and is the most authoritative among today’s Strauss conductors. His reading here and the playing of his orchestra are convincing and technically assured. The role of the Commandant was written for Hans Hotter and he sings it superbly on the Koch Schwann/Vienna State Opera set, but Weikl is almost in his noble predecessor’s class. At the peak of his career in 1988 he pours out strong, untiring tone and conveys all the man’s inner agony evinced in his relationship with his troops and with his wife.
As Maria, Sabine Hass, who recently died while still in her forties, could have no better memorial than this assumption, her impassioned, rich-toned voice soaring to the heights as she seeks to rekindle her husband’s interest in her: Mann commented that she sang the part ‘more movingly than anything I have heard her do’. The role seems to draw the best from its interpreters – Viorica Ursuleac gives a blinding performance on the alternative set. That has, on the whole, the better support, but of course the new version is far better recorded and will satisfy anyone wanting to add the piece – a snip on one CD – to their collection.'
R Strauss Freidenstag
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