Elektra

Finally--an Elektra for newcomers!
This is the best Elektra on DVD; especially good as an introduction to this opera. Here's why:

Elektra is a psychological drama usually difficult for beginners to "get into." This is chiefly because, traditionally, our Elektras have been older, established singers, but this very middleaged look makes it very hard for viewers to identify with the young Elektra who has been imprisoned by her mother and stepfather.

In this production we see Eva Johansson who is a much more age-appropriate Elektra. She has a wonderful voice, strong enough to be heard above Strauss' dynamic orchestral statements, yet soft and expressive when the score calls for it. Additionally, Johansson has here a wild, piercing stage presence--exactly what is called for in a successful Elektra.

The other singers are similarly appropriate. Marjana Lipovsek has done the opera before and makes for an excellent evil, yet guilt-ridden Klytamnestra. Alfred Muff is a more convincing...

A New Twist on Elektra
My first exposure to Elektra was in 1953 with the San Francisco Opera Company; I was lucky enough to see it both in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The cast was truly legendary: Inge Borhk, Margarete Klose, Ludwig Suthaus and Paul Schoeffler. Also making his debut was Solti. I believe Ellen Faull (sp?) was Chrysothemis. I can't say that I knew the opera since it was hardly common currency. And although I was very young I certainly responded to the singing (notably Borkh and Klose) as well as the acting. Borkh had orginally trained as a stage actress and it showed; Klose simply poured out molten tones of liquid gold and was a commanding presence.

Since we don't have singers of this quality around today we can hardly duplicate that level of singing. This new DVD is worth investigating for variety of reasons although the level of singing wouldn't be one of them. My first exposure to Eva Johansson was as Eva in the Deutschoper production of Meistersinger. She was quite...

Provocative, unique staging, and committed portrayals
TDK has released a new DVD of an Elektra captured in Zurich

from December 2005. It is a total success.

This opera is one in which a design team can revel. They

can go to the absolute max here in matching Strauss's

tortured music. To my mind, the opera can be made

contemporary to any degree, and ideas to convey its

darkness can be endless. Leonie Rysanek

once stated she did not care for a traditional Classical

Greek setting for the piece, and I agree.

The setting looks to be a combination brothel and insane

asylum, sinister, austere and menacingly closed-in. The

floor has no even footing; it is all precariously un-level,

bumpy and dangerous.

The theme of this production is sex, debauchery and

depravity in its most shockingly unleashed fashion, and

it's exhilarating; no holds barred here, all sacred taboos

are...

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