Volume 23 Issue 9 - June / July / August 2018

Gotterdämmerung, which demands both a heroic singer and dramatic
actress. Also, Nilsson stated that her best recorded performance in
the role was this live Bayreuth production with Böhm. Under Böhm’s
direction, there is palpable tension and drama. Tannhäuser from 1969
recorded in the Jesus Christus-Kirche in Berlin is conducted by Otto
Gerdes with the Deutschen Oper Berlin featuring Wolfgang Windgassen
as Tannhäuser, Nilsson as Elizabeth and Venus, Theo Adam as Hermann
and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Wolfram von Eschenbach.
The first of the Richard Strauss operas is Salome, recorded in the
Sofiensaal in Vienna during 1961. Again John Culshaw is the producer.
As conducted by Solti, Nilsson’s Salome is wanton, Gerhard Stolze
is an incestuous Herod and Grace Hoffman is a scheming Herodias.
Eberhard Wächter is the unfortunate Jochanaan. This is an astonishingly
realistic, atmospheric recording with, it seems, virtually
unrestrained dynamics that bring the goings-on right into the room.
The book tells us that this is a 2017 remaster. What an exceptional
performance and recording this is!
The first of two recordings of Elektra dates from 1966, also in the
Sofiensaal, and features, of course, Nilsson as Elektra with Regina
Resnik as Klytämnestra, Marie Collier as Chrysothemis, Gerhard
Stolze as Aegist and Tom Krause as Orest. Nilsson is Elektra and once
again the recording of the often ferocious score is well up to the above
Salome. The second version of Elektra is a DVD of the live performance
at the Met in February 1980 with Mignon Dunn as Klytämnestra,
Regina Resnik as Chrysothemis and Donald McIntyre as Orest. That
was some 14 years after the version above, but Nilsson’s artistry and
presence remained intact; and watching her and Resnik made this a
performance to remember. Elektra’s death scene is unique. There are
some bonus tracks on the DVD including Nilsson delivering a curtain
speech at a MET Anniversary Gala on April 27, 1996 honouring James
Levine. Finally, Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, conducted by Karl
Böhm in 1977 with the Vienna State Opera chorus and orchestra has
Nilsson as Sein Weib and the last change of scene includes James King,
Leonie Rysanek, Lotte Rysanek and Walter Berry.
The very impressive, 200-page hardcover art book contains a biography
of Nilsson, lavishly illustrated with lots of full-page photographs
and full details of the recording sessions. This is not merely a collection
of recordings but a fitting homage to a great artist. Uniquely
boxed, La Nilsson is a 100th anniversary limited edition of 79 CDs and
2 DVDs with 27 complete operas and bonus features
(Universal 8327874).
Hänssler has issued a set of the Mozart
Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
played by Dmitry Sitkovetsky, accompanied
in 2006 by Antonio Pappano and by
Konstantin Lifschitz in 2007/8/9 (Hänssler
HC17013, 4 CDs). The sonatas on disc one
with Pappano, K304, K305, K380 and K454,
were recorded in Potton Hall, Suffolk and
the rest, all with Lifschitz, originated in
the studio in Heidelberg. The brisk tempos
in some of the sonatas give them an attractive quality but on the
other hand are often too fast to develop the phrasing in the accepted
Mozart style.
The slower tempo sonatas K378 and K301 and some others are ideal.
The two-movement K304 in E minor, the only sonata in a minor key,
is a charmer, particularly the first theme of the first movement sung
without vibrato. Altogether, a pure delight. As is K403 on CD4… as are
all 17 sonatas.
There are other complete recordings that give more attention to the
intrinsic Mozart style. But Sitkovetsky has more than enough interesting
qualities to justify this one. They are truly presented as sonatas
for piano and violin, offering correct recorded balances throughout… a
very nice job by the engineers, wherein for the most part the piano is
leading. Sitkovetsky is not a flamboyant performer but is eloquent and
compact, maintaining a consistent and satisfying presentation. He is
an excellent chamber music player.
Audite continues to issue historic live
performances from the Lucerne Festival in
the mid-20th century. These recordings are
the first issues to be taken directly from the
original master tapes recorded by the Swiss
Radio and Television, the SRF, at the
International Music Festival. The latest issue
is a concert from August 16, 1953 conducted
by Wilhelm Furtwängler of Schumann and
Beethoven. The recordings are so fresh, dynamic and realistic that for
the listener (at least this one) the intervening years evaporate, and
then is now. This two-disc set is available in two forms, as a 2CD set
(23-441) or on 2 SACDs (91-441). The concert consisted of the dramatic
Schumann Overture to Manfred, Op.115, followed by a mighty
performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony as only a Furtwängler
could inspire. The Schumann Fourth Symphony performance is
another triumph in which, from the very first bar, everything about it
reflects a real sense of occasion… which indeed it is. The playing of the
Swiss Festival Orchestra is, of course, inspired and the dynamics of the
recording take us right inside the Lucerne Kunsthaus.
To celebrate Aaron Copland’s 75th birthday
on November 14, 1975, the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra engaged him to
conduct his own works in their home, the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Naxos has issued
a Blu-ray video of that concert as it was
broadcast across the continent (Copland
Conducts Copland Naxos NBD0068V). The
concert opens, rather appropriately, with a
fanfare, the Fanfare for the Common Man,
written at the request of his friend, conductor Eugene Goossens. We
know this because, in a voiceover, Copland says a few words to introduce
each piece to the audience at home. Also on the concert were
El salón México, the Clarinet Concerto with the dedicatee Benny
Goodman as soloist and Hoe Down from Rodeo. For the concluding
work, a suite from his opera, The Tender Land, the sizeable Los
Angeles Master Chorale joined the orchestra for the work’s finale The
Promise of Living. The composer’s beat and cues to the players are
clearly observed, resulting in a good time had by all.
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