Der Rosenkavalier Archive

R. STRAUSS: Suite from Elektra; Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (arr. Rodzinski) – Pittsburgh SO/ Manfred Honeck – Reference Recordings/ Fresh!

by Audiophile Audition | Nov 14, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

R. STRAUSS: Suite from Elektra (arr. Honeck/ Ille); Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (arr. Rodzinski) – Pittsburgh SO/ Manfred Honeck – Reference Recordings/ Fresh! multichannel SACD FR-722, 58:33 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: A brilliant performance of both works on this SACD. Ex-Vienna Opera violinist turned outstanding conductor Manfred Honeck is taking his Pittsburgh band down a new road with this unbelievably concise and brilliant arrangement of music from the difficult, astringent opera Elektra. The work has been considered a monumentally difficult piece to cast and pull off for many years, and even though its once-formidable harmonies were considered grating to the ear, today they don’t sound too difficult, even if they are a world away from the opera that followed, Der Rosenkavalier. One of Herbert von Karajan’s initial calling cards was the fact that he managed to conduct Elektra several times before WWII, astoundingly from memory, as he did everything. Honeck has given a lot of thought to the opera, not always simply excising passages and stringing them together in a suite, but evaluating the place of the vocal lines in relationship to the orchestra, and making other changes—in most cases, a thinning out, according to the conductor—to ensure more clarity […]