Richard Strauss, Die Liebe der Danae
Salzburger Festspiele 2016, Franz Welser-Möst with the Wiener Philharmoniker
Studio: EuroArts
Richard Strauss’ penultimate, satirically mythological opera Die Liebe der Danae (The Love of Danae, after a draft by Hugo von Hoffmansthal.
The Wiener Philharmoniker play under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, under whom they “conveyed the glittering colors and lyrical intricacies of Strauss’s late score” (NY Times).
Krassimira Stoyanova, who is a regular fixture at the Salzburg Festival, is heading a truly supreme cast and emerges as the “one in a thousand, the true Strauss lyric-dramatic soprano who can soar and swoop, working miracles on phrases that never stop coming” (The Artsdesk).
Bass-Baritone Tomasz Konieczny, “sings this Jupiter almost unsurpassably” (FAZ), he “is so vocally majestic that Danae’s choice of Midas seems implausible” (Financial Times).
Alvis Hermanis’ colourful production brings oriental flair to the Salzach, his “staging was spectacular above all else” (Opera Today).
“Die Liebe der Danae” is narrowly linked to the Festival’s rich history. Due to conditions during World War II, the Salzburg Festival, which had commissioned the opera for summer 1944, couldn’t give the public premiere. Instead only a single dress rehearsal, attended by Strauss himself, was performed for an invited audience. Thereafter, the opera was staged in Salzburg only twice and very seldom anywhere else in the world.
“Once more, this very rarely presented opera returned successfully on stage, leaving the audience with unforgettable impressive images embedded in soft romantic sound.“ (Opera Online)
Picture: 16:9 -NTSC
Sound: PCM Stereo
Language: N/A
subtitles: N/A
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 126 mins
Production year: 2016
Jupiter: Tomasz Konieczny
Merkur: Norbert Ernst
Pollux: Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke
Xanthe: Regine Hangler
Midas: Gerhard Siegel
Semele: Mária Celeng
Europa: Olga Bezsmertna
Alkmene: Michaela Selinger
Leda: Jennifer Johnston
Orchestra: Wiener Philharmoniker
Franz Welser-Möst
Chorus:
Konzertvereinigung, Wiener Staatsopernchor
Chorus Master: Ernst Raffelsberger
Stage Director: Alvis Hermanis Danae: Krassimira Stoyanova