GRAMOPHONE AWARDS SHORTLIST 2021

Richness and beauty: Christophe Rousset conducts Les Talens Lyriques in another Salieri rarity, the attractively scored Armida introduction from Les Talens Lyriques, bears an amusing resemblance to ‘We plough the fields, and scatter’. The richness and beauty of the playing, under the unerring direction of Christophe Rousset, is beyond praise. Excellent presentation, too, including costume designs and facsimile pages of the manuscript. Richard Lawrence (March 2021)

R Strauss

Die Frau ohne Schatten Stephen Gould ten �Emperor Camilla Nylund sop �Empress Nina Stemme sop �Barak’s Wife Wolfgang Koch bass-bar �Barak Evelyn Herlitzius sop �Nurse Sebastian Holecek bass-bar �Spirit Messenger Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Christian Thielemann Orfeo M c C991 203 (3h 29’ • DDD) Recorded live, May 25, 2019 Includes synopsis

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The Vienna State Opera’s centenary production of Die Frau ohne Schatten last year was inevitably one of the hottest tickets of the Straussian calendar. In the event, Vincent Huguet’s production was a disappointment. Not so Christian Thielemann’s conducting of a State Opera Orchestra on breathtaking form, presenting the vast score uncut for the first time in the house where it was unveiled in October 1919.

A century ago, the theatre assembled a cast of legendary names, and the work’s performance history is studded with starry casts. Thielemann’s line-up, featuring three singers who sang for him in Christoph Loy’s 2011 Salzburg Festival production (Opus Arte), can’t really compare. Nevertheless, Camilla Nylund is probably today’s reigning Empress, bringing shining tone – more silver than steel – to a role she’s made her own. She’s a moving, committed performer, too, fearless in the role’s extremes (the top Cs and D flat are cleanly hit) and in its dramatic demands: listen to her great final scene, replete with powerfully delivered melodrama.

Nina Stemme is predictably fine as the Dyer’s Wife, too, offering the necessary powerful integrity to counter the character’s less appealing traits. Evelyn Herlitzius, Thielemann’s Färberin in Salzburg, transitions to the Nurse here – with moderate success. She’s a compelling actress but some words fall foul to her unusual vocal production and she simply doesn’t have the notes for the role’s lower reaches.

The Emperor and Barak are the same as in Salzburg: Stephen Gould is remarkably solid but lacks grace for the Emperor’s cantilena and is now stretched rather more by the role’s extremes; Wolfgang Koch remains an eminently likeable Dyer, with impressive legato and a seemingly endless top to the voice, but one misses a certain bite and edge in his smooth bass-baritone. The subsidiary roles, led by Sebastian Holecek’s incisive, powerful Spirit Messenger, are well filled.

The chief glory, however, is undoubtedly the conducting and playing. Before the first night, Thielemann had apparently suggested he might conduct the quietest performance of the work ever, and perhaps no performance (certainly on disc) is more adept at capturing the filigree and transparency of Strauss’s music describing the spirit realm; more concerned with making the singers – and their words – audible; or more observant of the score’s dynamic gradations, especially in not letting ff routinely balloon into fff.

Even more so than in Salzburg, the conductor is happy to let wordy moments trundle by without drawing undue attention to the musical details. He displays remarkable patience and large-scale judgement in pacing each of the grand acts, concentrating on structural coherence and saving himself for the big moments that really matter. Those moments are delivered powerfully, even if for me the grand final climax is somewhat marred by the overdominant thumping of the timpani.

And it’s testament to the Vienna State Opera Orchestra that they not only sound magnificent in the climaxes but that they are able to execute all Strauss’s notes with such delicacy in the lighter passages. It goes without saying that the solo contributions – the big moments for the principal cello and violin – are superbly done. The live sound reflects the theatre’s acoustic (a touch dry) and by and large the voices are captured remarkably well, with only occasional stage noises audible. This is essential listening for anyone interested in this remarkable work. Hugo Shirley (August 2020)

40 GRAMOPHONE 40 GRAMOPHONE SHORTLIST 2021

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