Strauss's Helen returns to the Metropolitan Opera
(May 2007)
Richard Strauss’s mythological opera Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) has been enjoying renewed interest in recent years, after decades of neglect fostered by the complex Freudian psychology of Hofmannsthal’s libretto and its challenging vocal roles. A new staging by David Fielding opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in March, the first at the house since Maria Jeritza’s seven historic performances in 1928 when the opera was new.
The Met production centred on Deborah Voigt, who has very much made the title role her own, both on stage and on the recent Telarc recording. She was applauded in the New York Times for a “splendid portrayal. She sent Strauss’s lines soaring with gleaming tone and unforced power.” Fabio Luisi “led a nuanced, urgent and lucidly textured account of this lushly orchestrated score”, while director David Fielding showed again his understanding of Strauss’s stageworks of the 1920s and 1930s with their lightness of touch disguising bitter-sweet psychological truths.
For full information on Die ägyptische Helena including synopsis and casting details, please visit our Opera website.
New Strauss recordings
Strauss collectors will welcome a new recording of Strauss’s ballet Josephslegende conducted by Ivan Fischer, described by the Guardian as “a stupendous piece of music-making that manages to combine emotional extremism with sharply focused orchestral detail throughout. Phenomenally engineered, beautiful, savage and very, very erotic... it sets new interpretative standards for the work itself” (Channel Classics 24507).
As the ultimate post-script, a historic recording has been released of the premiere of the Four Last Songs with Kirsten Flagstad and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Furtwängler at the 1950 Proms (Testament SBT 1410).
> Further information on Work: Die ägyptische Helena
Photo: Deborah Voigt and Diana Damrau in Die ägyptische Helena at the Met (Image: Ken Howard)
> News Search
