Ariadne auf Naxos
received its first studio incarnation
in this famed set, organised by Walter
Legge, conducted by Karajan and featuring
a heady roster of singers supported,
if that’s not too watery a word, by
the characterful Philharmonia in top
form. Almost everything that should
have gone right during the sessions
did so. Minor reservations remain precisely
that – minor.
Seefried is the Composer,
a role she’d assumed before, and proves
ardent and authoritative. Right from
Lieber Freund! she brings to
bear all her accustomed naturalness
and beauty of tone. Rita Streich’s Zerbinetta
is every bit as good, though tends to
be under-heralded in this role. Her
technique is commandingly fluent, her
tonal range wonderfully equalized, and
her theatrical assumption faultless.
Schwarzkopf can be self-consciously
knowing; one realises this is an age-old
complaint but her way with Meine
Partner! does tend to invite the
thought, or the criticism. Nevertheless
despite the arch drawing attention to
oneself, a sort of non-ensemble sliding
into the limelight, hers is an unforgettably
personalised reading.
Amidst the glitter
of the other voices one finds the Dancing
Master of Hughes Cuénod whose
inimitably high French tenor does have
a degree of strain that will not be
to all tastes but is full of the richest
élan and makes for the most brilliantine
of cameos. In this company the Music
Teacher of Karl Dönch sounds rather
perfunctory and the Major Domo of Alfred
Neugebauer gentlemanly but pensionable.
Neugebauer made a live recording of
this around the same time with Karl
Böhm and sounds in considerably
better voice there. A cast that includes
Otakar Kraus as A Lackey can fairly
be said to be batting well down the
order. And when one adds that we have
one of the best quartet of comedians
on disc then the nature and breadth
of the casting can be seen for the superior
selection it was. The orchestra as noted
plays with terrific impetus and subtlety.
Dennis Brain’s solos are majestic but
only one component. Listen to the cello
solos in the Prologue and to the sense
of chamber intimacy so winningly conveyed
in Kindskopf! Merkt auf. Maybe
here, though, and also in the very opening
one can detect a certain weakness of
Karajan’s – something of a lack of inner
dynamism and a promotion of beautifully
balanced sonority over theatrical energy.
It’s a tendency that is reflected in
the lower level of immediacy and backstage
badinage than can be found in rival
sets.
To bring up the second
disc to sixty-eight minutes we also
have Schwarzkopf in an almost contemporaneous
recording, the closing scene from Capriccio.
Once more Legge’s Philharmonia is
on hand but this time Otto Ackermann
is on the rostrum. Her agility and technical
prowess are splendidly realised.
The notes are augmented
by scene synopses; a libretto will have
to be culled elsewhere or downloaded.
The transfers are from relevant LPs
and sound very well.
Jonathan Woolf
Philharmonia Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
for details 
