Strauss
Original Air Date: 01/05/2002
Thielemann; Voigt, Moser, Schnaut, Brendel, Runkel
SID.18510212
The main draw here is Thielemann conducting the opera complete, something Bohm never did at the Met, and one of the best outings for Voigt. Schnaut has a lot of presence as the Dyer’s wife, but the sound is often hard to take. Brendel as Barak is good, but if one saw the original Met production Walter Berry totally equalled the spectacular work of Rysanek, Ludwig, King, and Dalis. Still “Frosch” has some of the best music Strauss ever wrote, and Thielemann is a master of this score against any competition. Highly recommended.
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Thielemann is the chief attraction here and the score is presented complete at the Met for the first time. Voigt is at close to her very best. Some of R. Strauss’ very best music. The recent Jurowski run was also complete, and with all new casting, which for me was definitely better for Dyer’s Wife and Emperor. For the Amme, I think one needs to go back to Dalis and Dunn.
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This was Thielemann’s high water mark at the Met with a popular production by Herbert Wernicke who died an untimely death not long after this production was premiered in December 2001 (he died in April 2002). Thielemann did the score absolutely uncut for the first time at the Met, and the women on the whole garnered high praise. Schnaut’s voice is not a beautiful one (but Christel Goltz was not exactly Kiri te Kanawa either) but she certainly gets to the heart of the character. I have never been able to tolerate Moser’s voice, and Brendel is caught just a
little too late in the day for this. For many of us Barak will always be Walter Berry, but of course those lucky to have seen DFD in Europe it was a fine part for him as well.