On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 5:12:05 PM UTC-7,
meyers...@gmail.com wrote:
For me this recording is invaluable for two contributionas - the Elektra of Nilsson who is the only soprano I have ever heard who actually sings the role as written (and I'm not talking about the fact the set is complete but more on that later) and
Resniks Klytemnestra. Marie Collier is perfectly dreadful but she was a last minute replacement for another soprano who bailed after the sessions had started. Its interesting that although Culshaw, Solti and Decca wanted to record the score complete,
Nilsson (armed with a letter from Bohm saying that Strauss sanctioned the cuts) was adamant that the score be recorded with the usual cuts. They tried everything to convince her even adding up the timings between the two versions as less than seven
minutes. So they went on and recorded the usual cut version and prepared it for release. Then Nilsson gave in and consented to give them one day to record the missing portions. Solti rearranged his schedule and it just happened the Sofiensaal was
available that day The problem is the Vienna Phil was on tour that day although some members were still home in Vienna. So Decca augmented them with players from other orchestras to record the missing seven minutes. They also spliced in Colliers
interjections during that seven minutes recorded in another country and another hall. This all happened six months after the cut version was completed. The engineers must be given credit for putting everythung together - I sure don't hear any differences
According to this:
- Elektra had never been properly recorded in either the musical or the technical sense, for earlier versions had suffered from cuts and from a type of balance which perversely made the text audible at the expense of
Strauss’s music.
https://forty-five.com/papers/operas-ethics-and-elektra-a-return-to-the-recordings-of-john-culshaw
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