Julia Varady's first disc for Orfeo, of Wagner, with her husband, Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau, conducting was a superb record. This further release is
equally remarkable, particularly when one thinks that Varady is only just
one year short of her sixtieth birthday. She may very well have spent many
years in the shadow of her more famous husband but this disc confirms her
as a Strauss soprano of unusual richness of tone. The voice is both intoxicating
and ample - in many ways ideally suited to the Strauss heroines included
here.
Like her distinguished predecessor, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Varady is best
suited to the dramatic roles of Mozart, Verdi and Strauss. But unlike
Schwarzkopf, we have comparatively little of Varady on disc in these roles
- notably a magisterial Empress in Solti's Die Frau ohne Schatten,
and a very fine Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. So, listening to the
first track on this CD, the final scene from Salome, one regrets that
she has never recorded more Strauss commercially.
What makes this performance the more remarkable is the fact that it stands
by itself as a very fine interpretation of the final scene (something of
a rarity). Strauss' notorious description of Salome as a 'sixteen year old
Isolde' makes the part difficult to cast, and very few sopranos have done
it justice. Varady's assumption of the part owes something to the recorded
performances of Ljuba Weilitsch and Inge Borkh - the voice every ounce as
commanding as those unsurpassed interpreters of the role. Yet one hears much
in this final scene to suggest that Varady would have been more than capable
of moving between the vocal oscillations of fervent ferocity and child-like
compassion that this glowing music requires. From the very opening, the voice
is assured as it climbs through the register to sustain effortlessly one
of the most thrilling single notes in all opera. It is the beginning of a
glorious stream of sound, that is as chilling as it is delicate. The voice
hovers between beautifully sustained pianissimos and dark, low-lying notes
as plush as velvet. As a single performance it almost rivals Birgit Nilsson's
famous performance of this scene (on DG) - even if it lacks that performance's
ability to make the hairs on one's neck stand up. It is, thankfully, not
so statuesque as to be overwhelming - the rather unfortunate fate of Jessye
Norman's recording of the role.
The final track is another final scene - this time from Strauss' last opera,
Capriccio. The difference in vocalisation from the Salome extract
is here very convincing, with the voice shaded in the most melancholic of
tones, achingly beautiful. Strauss' markings, separating pp from
ppp are here scrupulously noted - the voice small scale and in keeping
with the affecting chamber-music-like quality of this final opera. In between,
Varady sings arias from Ariadne auf Naxos and Danae - arias
which allow her to scale down her voice to the most Mozartian of timbres.
Here we hear Varady capturing to perfection the most vacillating and melancholy
of farewells in Danae's monologue, and Ariadne's love emerging through singing
that is both as clear and well cut as a diamond, and as bewitchingly pure
as still-running stream water.
Throughout this, Fischer-Dieskau is a sympathetic collaborator. His conducting
in Salome is suitably hedonistic, whilst the other operas bring playing
of consummate beauty from the orchestra. String tone is glorious, woodwind
felicitous. The sound is neither brightly lit nor too transparent to allow
Strauss' delicate textures to emerge beautifully. A very recommendable disc.
Reviewer
Marc Bridle
performance
sound
Julia Varady,
Bamberg Symphoniker, Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau 
