Richard Strauss (1864-1949):
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| Salome | HILDEGARD BEHRENS |
| Herodes | KARL-WALTER BÖHM |
| Herodias | AGNES BALTSA |
| Jochanaan | JOSÉ VAN DAM |
| Narraboth | WIESŁAW OCHMAN |
| Herodias’s page | HELJÄ ANGERVO |
| First Jew | HEINZ ZEDNIK |
| Second Jew | DAVID KNUTSON |
| Third Jew | MARTIN VANTIN |
| Fourth Jew | GERHARD UNGER |
| Fifth Jew | ERICH KUNZ |
| First Nazarene | JULES BASTIN |
| Second Nazarene | DIETER ELLENBECK |
| First Soldier | GERD NIENSTEDT |
| Second Soldier | KURT RYDL |
| Cappadocian | HELGE VON BÖMCHES |
| Slave | HORST NITSCHE |
Introduction
This recording made a star of the late Hildegard Behrens, who journeys from girlish petulance to psychotic fulfilment in her obsession with the commanding Jokanaan of José Van Dam. Herbert von Karajan revels in the score’s special blend of sensuality and cruelty.
Synopsis
Based on Oscar Wilde’s decadent interpretation of the New Testament story of Herod’s dancing stepdaughter, Salome was the opera that made Richard Strauss’ name and fortune. A sensation when first performed in 1905, it is cast in one act and sees Salome progress from petulant, nervous child to a depraved, but fulfilled woman, singing lovingly, but tauntingly to the severed head of Jokanaan, John the Baptist, in a closing scene that shows Strauss at his most sensuously overwhelming.
Each of the protagonists is in the grip of an obsession: Salome, Herod, her mother (Herodias), a young captain (Narraboth) and Jokanaan, who is protrayed with broad musical lines that stand out from the predominantly sinuous or angular contours of the score. Aroused, insulted and frustrated by a charged encounter with Jokanaan, Salome responds to her stepfather’s fevered request and performs the notorious Dance of the Seven Veils, an amalgam of writhing, glittering orientalism and surging waltz rhythms. Herod has agreed to give her whatever she desires, and she insists with increasing savagery that she wants the head of Jokanaan, presented on a silver platter. After her ghastly triumph, Herod orders his guards to crush her beneath their shields.
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Compact Disc 1 56.49 1 Wie schön ist die Prinzessin Salome heute nacht! 2.55
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Compact Disc 2 48.44 1 ... Eine Menge Menschen wird sich gegen sie sammeln 2.24
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