The last performances of R. Strauss’s Elektra I have seen produced the effect of making me wonder if the violence, the rawness in Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s text really mean that Strauss’s score needs to be performed with the on-your-face vehemence of Georg Solti’s studio recording with the Vienna Philharmonic. The softer approach does make it more relatable and maybe multifaceted etc etc, but after the full-power performance in the Deutsche Oper Berlin this afternoon, all I can say is – nah, I’d still go for good old let-it-rip anytime!
I had seen conductor Alexander Soddy only once in an exciting account of Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Lindenoper seven years ago, but his name didn’t ring a bell when he was announced as a replacement for Donald Runnicles. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it again. When the orchestra blasted the Agamemnon motive right in the beginning of the opera in a way that you could feel your hair been blown from your head, everybody in the auditorium knew this was not going to be boring at all. If yesterday the brass had their occasional slips in Arabella, this afternoon these musicians established paramount standards only matched by the richness of sound of the strings. At every moment, my expectations in terms of clarity, phrasing, expression, structural understanding were fulfilled by Mr. Soddy and the Deutsche Oper Orchestra to the minimal details. Now I know how Elektra felt when she recognized Orestes – this is just what we experienced today: here was Elektra in its full and true colors. Bravissimi.
This is an opera impossible to cast, especially when hell was going loose in the orchestral pit. Every singer on stage had to work hard for their money, and all of them did not seem to resent that. Everyone gave their 100%, each one of them seemed to understand that there was something special going on today. And that alone made this performance even more cherishable, in spite of occasional shortcomings and flaws.
I had seen Catherine Foster sing the title role twice – in concert (without cuts) in Berlin and in São Paulo in a staging in the Teatro Municipal – and I have always admired her ability to balance the needs of the part in terms of heroic, percussive singing and the more lyric aspects, especially in the recognition scene. Seven years later, after a steady diet of dramatic roles, one cannot truly say she is still in her absolute prime, but nobody can deny she is up to the task. The voice itself now sounds a bit drier and a tad less radiant, yet she rarely disappoints in the key moments, offering some big acuti, enough verbal acuity and some surprising examples of tonal shading. The messa di voce in “seliger als ich gelebt” alone was worth the ticket price. In terms of acting, it’s admirable how she throws herself into the role without any vanity or self-consciousness – and she manages the moments of irony and provocativeness better than most:
After a brilliant performance in the role of Christine in Strauss’s Intermezzo in Basel, I expected a little bit more brightness and projection from Fiurina Stucki today. Maybe she was not in her best voice, maybe all the heavy roles she has been singing are to blame. In any case, she has reserves of stamina and tries to make Chrysothemis less passive than what one usually hears.
Although Karita Mattila has reinvented herself as a mezzo soprano at this stage of her career, here she is going a little bit further into contralto repertoire. She does the trick rather well, but with just enough volume to be heard at all. That said, she made you want to listen to her, for – in spite of all observations – she did sing this difficult part with unusual sense of line and attention to harmonic twists. In terms of characterization, having the charisma for it. she predictably went for broke. When she says “do I look like a sick person?” and awkwardly stroke a grand pose, she proved she belongs here, full stop.
Tobias Kehrer not only presided over the big orchestra in his singing as Orest, but also did it with deluxe tonal quality. He also managed to suggest the character’s vulnerability in his encounter with Elektra. In a word: bravo!
I realize that I wasn’t enthusiastic about Kirsten Harms’s staging when I saw it 13 years ago in a double bill with Gnecchi’s Cassandra. I can’t say for sure, but I’ve found it marginally more effective this time. Maybe the personalities of all involved steered it towards superior effectiveness. The scene with the dancers in the end, for instance, seemed embarrassing in 2010, but this time the result looked less balletic, Ms. Foster seemed more integrated in the choreography than the soprano in the title role back then.
I HEAR VOICES 
re: Catherine Foster. Saw her only once, as Färberin in Frau ohne Schatten at Nationaltheater Mannheim 2019 & what you note above rings a bell in my memory. In Act 1 her luminous vocalizations took me by very pleasant surprise, but by the end of Act 2, as excellent as she sang, she sounded “a bit drier and a tad less radiant”. In her underground cave in Act 3 she had a reavivamiento and drowned everyone else out in the final quartet. So interesting & a very memorable singer.
– I recorded Sunday’s Arabella off rbb kulturradio but haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. Here is the link if you want to rehear any of it:
https://www.rbb-online.de/rbbkultur/radio/programm/schema/sendungen/rbbkultur_radiokonzert/archiv/20230318_2000.html
Hi, Jerold! In my experience, Catherine Foster can be a bit variable, but at her best she does really remarkable things. The Elektra with Janowski was probably the most pleasant in tone I have ever heard live, and her Brünnhilde with Janowski in Bayreuth was stylishly sung, with many beautiful moments. I don’t know if her voice records well, though.
I am a bit curious about the Arabella will sound in recordings. I wonder how Sara Jakubiak’s voice will sound – or if the mikes are bringing a little bit more clarity to what we’ve heard live.
I’m glad to read Mattila had something of a success. I was kind of shocked, after having been suprised at how solid she was in Trittico this summer, how bad she sounded as Herodias in Paris. And that role should have worked for her. I guess a non-camp approach isn’t really possible.
Foster’s held up well.
Btw were you able to assemble the files for the Alcina? No worries if not. Thank you!
Mattila lacked a bit in volume, I’d say – but what she has done was far more “musical” than what I usually hear in the role. Sure, she did distort the tone for effects now and then, but the sense of line called my attention. What she did was Straussian in style.
I had listened to a broadcast from Dresden with Foster’s Brünnhilde and was a bit worried about what we’d hear in this Elektra. All I can say is that she really sang better than what I expected. The voice is not consistently natural as it used to be, but she always managed to live up to the most challenging passages – and, again, she really knows how to do with the recognition scene.
Now I see that something really went wrong with the Alcina files. I send them to you via wetranfer weeks ago. Then I received a message saying that they expired. I’ve just reloaded them. Please check your spam folder to see the e-mail didn’t land there.
Recieved, thanks!
I guess Mattila is just at an age where she has good days and bad days. She sounded so hoarse and rough as Herodias.
Yes, and Herodias is a little bit more exposed in terms of tessitura and volume too. Yesterday, the only thing I could observe is that it was a bit small-scaled, but other than this, I’d say her low notes were better than Waltraud Meier’s haha
I will say this for Meier though. For Mezzo she never had much in the way of chest voice. But she never pushed down there in order to get natural volume.
Mattila in her soprano days at least had no real lower register to speak of and would defult to this chest voice that sounded like gears grinding. When I saw her cast in Elektra I pretty much figured she would just blow her voice out. Herodias more readily accomodates old sopranos.
Definitely – Herodias is higher in tessitura, but you still need some edge to pierce. Mattila’s voice was always more velvety than metallic – and that makes things more difficult for her in that role. On the other hand, she handles the totally upfront chest voice quite well.
I have to thank you again for the Alcina, I’ve been listening to portions of it again and again. Auger still takes the trophy for me, but only just. It’s perverse that no one recorded Gauvin in the role when they had the chance (ditto Hallenberg). The two of them sang another concert of the opera under Roussett. Imagine that!
I almost wish the Didonato Agrippina hadn’t come out because now one is going to record Gauvin and Hallenberg in that opera either. Gauvin herself should switch over to Agrippina at some point while there’s time.
I’m happy to hear that you’ve enjoyed listening to it again, Peter! I still find it difficult the comparison between Augér and Gauvin as Alcina – I find Augér more varied in terms of interpretation, but Gauvin’s richer voice apter for the role.
In my opinion, Gauvin’s CD with arias of Agrippina and Alcina is one of the best Handel aria collections…. probably ever. The Agrippina items are amazing in how she makes sense as both the title role and Poppea. I understand you _almost_ wishing that Didonato did not record it, for she is a very nice Agrippina too. My problem with that recording is that – as many other performances of Agrippina – is its lack of naturalness. Maybe because of the nature of the plot, everybody tends to be overpointed and a tad exaggerated. In her recital, Gauvin is characterful without overkilling it – it all feels natural, stylish and expressive.
There’s just something so “complete” about Auger in the role that I can’t quite put my finger on because she’s so understated. But she does manage to get across a danger and pathos without really “playing” either of those things in a way I find breathtaking. Because of her endowment and basic timbre she never really had the chance to sing a role that allowed her to show what she could do dramatically to the same extent and you almost get the impression she knew that and is pouring everything she has into the role.
i love the Agrippina/Alcina CD. I’m kind of surprised Gauvin never moved to Agrippina from Poppea, she seems to relish digging her teeth into meaty parts and she certainly has the flamboyance for the title role. Agreed about the Didonato recording, it feels very manufactured and she seems to have to impart meaning on every line and repeat. Each individual moment works but it gets wearying after a while.
And Augér sang it with absolute spontaneity. I find it a bit sad that the Christie did not record it with her with his own orchestra. I find the studio a bit lifeless – and I don’t like very much the way her voice was recorded there.
As for Didonato, from a certain point of her career she started to develop a studied intensity that IMHO doesn’t add anything in terms of expression to her singing. She was alright more expressive when the effect didn’t call so much attention to itself. Anyway, that’s just comparing her to herself. She has always been an excellent Handelian singer.
I love her on the studio recording. My only complaint is that she ventures some ornaments that she probably shouldn’t have. But I love her otherwise so much there than the fact that the rest of the recording is only decent doesn’t bother me, it’s the one I listen to most (although this broadcast might take it’s place).
I long for a good quality video with Antonacci as Agrippina and I’m glad there’s a video of Hallenberg in the role from Sweden. Didonato I find a bit too into the camp aspect of the role but she certainly can sing it better than pretty anyone who isn’t Hallenberg. Antonacci had that extra something, an Italianate edge and glamour that made her humor more knife like and actually dangerous. I will admit that almost as much as Auger’s Alcina, Antonacci is pretty much the persona and sound I picture as Agrippina. Which is funny because it’s not like Antonacci is at the top of the heap vocally.
I guess that the ornaments are a bit all over the place because there isn’t a conductor in charge to make sure that they were in place. I was just listening to Ma quando tornerai – and that cadenza comes out of nowhere haha
I might be wrong, but I’ve seen on YouTube more than one Agrippina with Hallenberg. I’ve just seen one from Drottningholm (with Bruno de Sá and Roberta Mameli), but there was an earlier one… from La Fenice? I have seen on YouTube something with Anna Bonitatibus too and it sounded fun too. Maybe we’ve already discussed the issue with the fact that Antonacci’s Agrippina wasn’t released. Everybody who saw it was convinced it was going to be released, but that never happened. I agree she is a bit… broad… in terms of vocalism there (I find her in better shape in the Glyndebourne Rodelinda, for instance), but I’m with you there – it’s like Claudia Cardinale could sing and had been cast as Agrippina. And it’s a good cast too.
Yeah it’s not an especially memorable Agrippina aside from Hallenberg.
Im curious if you’ve listened to what is MY favorite Agrippina, the Göttingen festival recording from a few years back conducted by Laurence Cummings. It’s not perfectly cast but the conducting is excellent, the whole thing feels veru involving, the two leading ladies are somewhat improbably among the best I’ve heard in the role.
Haha this time you won’t make me buy a CD because I’ve already got this one! I’ve never listened to it, though. Other than João Fernandes (whom I saw as Claudio in that bizarre Agrippina in the NYCO), I know no-one in the cast. I’ll listen to it and let you know!
I’ve listened to bits of L. Cummings’ Agrippina. The performance as a whole is exciting, the orchestra is on fire, but I’m less enthusiastic about the cast. The two leading ladies are more interesting by far. I see why you like the Agrippina – she is like a German Antonacci hahaha
Yeah I don’t know that I’d want to hear that lady in anything else. But again the voice feels so right for the role. On first listen it comes off as a very spectral almost ugly kind of sound. But once the first aria is out of the way, I’m fully onboard because in sound and manner she seems so “right” for the role. She also does weirdly lull me into almost thinking like the voice is beautiful at times. She really nails the slithery duplicity of the character. Also she does actually sing it very musically and with surprising eloquence. The Poppea I just think is the best on a complete commercial recording.
I guess it’s my personal favorite just because it sounds like it would have been great to see. All of the other Agrippina’s sound either small scaled, heavily mannered, or very very studio bound. This one has real verve and wit.
Yes, the voice is alternately appealing in an unsweet way and a bit odd. When I heard the first aria, it felt a bit “uh, oh”, but Tu ben degno sei dell’allor is just brilliant, how she uses her voice’s ambiguity. Then I was onboard. And I thought she sings the last aria just beautifully. Indeed the performance feels spontaneous in a discography in which everything is a bit mannered, I agree. In terms of cast, I’d say that Jacobs maybe has the overall most solid one (especially live, when he had Prohaska as Poppea).
Yes the last aria is the best version I’ve ever heard and her best moment. Very lovely. The whole performance just grew on me.
I remember liking the later Jacob’s Berlin performance in person and I thought Prohaska was superb. But the recording itself kind of annoyed me, I thought he was being very finicky. And as much I tend to enjoy her in the moment Penda has always seemed like B version of Antonacci to me. A stronger more wide ranging voice, but even less attractive and a step down in terms of artistry.
The issue for me is that I saw those Antonacci/Jacobs performances (the 2004 run with Persson) and THAT’S the period of time and cast I wish he’d either taken to the studio or officially filmed. The later performance just felt that much more mannered and calcified.
I’ve had the same impression with the Berlin Agrippina. I’ve enjoyed it live but never listen to the recording.
As for Penda, it’s strange. She is obviously very gifted – vocally and in terms of temper and stamina – but it’s all over the place and generally excessive. I actually believe that the collaboration with Jacobs was the fear thing that happened to her career, for she learned to focus (both vocally and in musical terms). That said, it always feels studied and straitjacketed. In the YouTube clip, where you can see her live and in the studio, you can feel her “checklisting”-attitude, because in a way she is channeling the conductor there. And Jacobs tends to the mannered (even in his days as a singer). Antonacci is channeling no-one – she was pretty much following her own musical and dramatic instincts, I’d say.
I like that cadenza actually, maybe it’s the type of thing only she can pull off. My issue is that both at the end of the aria and Ombre Pallide she inserts very high notes that both stop the music and also are probably *just* outside of her reach and get a white borderline screechy quality. But then in other arias her ornaments are so on point. Di Cor Mio IMO has some ornaments (Gauvin actually does some identical ones) that are so smoothly integrated. That first aria is one Auger is so easily the best of any singer I’ve heard.
Interesting what you say about Antonacci’s Rodelinda. I think she’s in good voice there and since I’m a fan I love her in the role. But the basic timbre is less well suited to the role and in the more elegiac arias the lack of firm tuning and vocal smoothness can be something to regret missing out on. Whereas her singing as Agrippina isn’t the last word in precision or finesse, the very sound itself is perfect for the character and her way with the text is eloquent enough for me that the vocal waywardness is easy to overlook.
I think there used to be an earlier Hallenberg Agrippina but it got taken down. I saw her do it in Concert. The video is from last year (or 2021) I think.
1 – Di, cor mio – especially in the video – is Augér at her best, I agree.
2 – I don’t think Antonacci is a good singer for Handel, but in the Agrippina her whole scenic persona makes up for the vocal inadequacy – and the role doesn’t require a classically beautiful voice. We’re on the same page here. I only think that she was genuinely in better voice in the Rodelinda, even if there a classically beautiful voice would be more suited. So we don’t disagree 🙂
3 – Yep, the Drottningholm video wasn’t recorded long ago. I must say I don’t find the cast very strong – Mameli is miscast, for instance.