Strauss - Elektra - Jones, Evans, Rysanek - Tate2CDs - ADD - 201min. - Claves 2006
Performer: Leonard Graus, Evangelia Antonini, Leonie Rysanek, Anne Evans, Ronald Hamilton, Wolfgang Schöne, Michael Pavlu, Janeen Franz, Antoinette Faes, Neil Jenkins, Jacalyn Kreitzer, Vesselina Zorova, Ursula Weber, Marit Sauramo, Dame Gwyneth Jones
Orchestra: L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Conductor: Jeffrey Tate
Dame Gwyneth’s voice has of course long attracted super-critical comment (see the recent review of her Wagner arias disc as an example review). I can understand the reasons why some have those views, but I equally know that many find her way with music so forceful, that after hearing her in a role there is no other to even come close. The point being that she gets absolutely to the core of the character and becomes its total embodiment - and in a role such as this vocal beauty to the exclusion of all else would be to the ruin of the work. I strongly urge you to put any preconceptions aside – this is singing of power (and not just in the decibel sense, that she also was capable of) drive, integrity, logicality and one of the most gripping interpretations I can recall from her. And the voice: I defy you tell me seriously that it’s not in superb shape and absolutely 100% up to the task. The Recognition scene blisters with white-hot intensity from first note to last, but so too does the whole role in this gloriously persuasive assumption.
Leonie Rysanek, also heard here as another age-defying soprano – is one of the few who actually sings the fearsome role of Clytemnestra, as opposed to barking it like so many before her. It’s understandable I feel that Alain Perroux’s recollection of the production is built around these two ‘Dames’ – he does not include Anne Evans in the Dame ‘club’, though by that stage she had every right to be. To be honest, in listening to the performance as we have it, Dame Anne’s performance, although assured and musical, does seem somewhat flatly characterised when placed beside such fearsome stage animals as Jones and Rysanek. I get the same feeling with her Wagner too – there’s something that doesn’t induce that 1000 volt jolt of electricity down the spine every time.
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