Strauss, R: Der Rosenkavalier
Renée Fleming (Marschallin), Franz Hawlata (Baron Ochs), Sophie Koch (Octavian), Diana Damrau (Sophie), Jonas Kaufmann (The Italian Tenor), Franz Grundheber (Faninal), Jane Henschel (Annina), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Valzacchi), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Marianne)
Munchner Philharmoniker, Christian...
[Fleming] speaks volumes with those expressive eyes and floats the trio's opening phrase to perfection...Sophie Koch produces rich, impassioned sounds and makes a convincing boy...Kaufmann [is]...
Strauss, R: Der Rosenkavalier
Renée Fleming (Marschallin), Franz Hawlata (Baron Ochs), Sophie Koch (Octavian), Diana Damrau (Sophie), Jonas Kaufmann (The Italian Tenor), Franz Grundheber (Faninal), Jane Henschel (Annina), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Valzacchi), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Marianne)
Munchner Philharmoniker, Christian...
Purchase product
[Fleming] speaks volumes with those expressive eyes and floats the trio's opening phrase to perfection...Sophie Koch produces rich, impassioned sounds and makes a convincing boy...Kaufmann [is]...
About
Decca’s first CD release of Der Rosenkavalier since the legendary Solti recording of the late 1960s was recorded during the Baden-Baden Festival performances in January 2009.
This latest Rosenkavalier features what conductor Christian Thielemann called a “galactic cast”. Renée Fleming is luminous as the Marschallin − in what is surely the central role of her repertoire. She is joined by Sophie Koch as Octavian, Diana Damrau as Sofie, Franz Hawlata as Ochs, and the “luxury casting” of Jonas Kaufmann as the Italian Tenor.
Previously released on Decca DVD and Blu-ray, the recording has been completely re-mastered for this release.
Of Renée Fleming in Rosenkavalier, the International Herald Tribune wrote: “Her soprano is not only beautifully in place for the music, but is employed with a rare flexibility and sensitivity for the text”.
Artists
Renée Fleming (Marschallin), Franz Hawlata (Baron Ochs), Sophie Koch (Octavian), Diana Damrau (Sophie), Jonas Kaufmann (The Italian Tenor), Franz Grundheber (Faninal), Jane Henschel (Annina), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Valzacchi), Irmgard Vilsmaier (Marianne)
Munchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann
Contents and tracklist
- Sophie Koch (soprano), Renée Fleming (soprano), Wilfried Gahmlich (baritone), Franz Hawlata (bass), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (tenor), Jörg Schneider (tenor), Nina Amon (soprano), Catherine Veillerobe (soprano), Angela Rudolf (mezzo-soprano), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Lynton Black (bass), Jane Henschel (soprano), Michael Schwendinger (bass-baritone), Manfred Hanakam (tenor), Ilker Arcayürek (mezzo-soprano), Jens Waldig (bass), Irmgard Vilsmaier (soprano), Franz Grundheber (baritone), Diana Damrau (soprano), Max Sahlinger (tenor), Jorg Espenkott (baritone), Andreas Hörl (bass), Sophie Koch (mezzo-soprano)
- Münchner Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Chor Wien
- Christian Thielemann
- Recorded: 2009-01-31
- Recording Venue: Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden
Awards and reviews
August 2010
[Fleming] speaks volumes with those expressive eyes and floats the trio's opening phrase to perfection...Sophie Koch produces rich, impassioned sounds and makes a convincing boy...Kaufmann [is] handsome and oddly impressive as the Italian tenor
February 2013
Damrau (Sophie) seems to have the golden touch with most everything she sings and Sophie Koch (Octavian) is better heard than seen in the DVD's unflattering costumes...The microphones catch a brittle edge in Fleming's otherwise intelligently conceived Marschallin...Franz Hawlata sings the oft-declaimed role of Baron Ochs in ways that lose none of the character's comic edge.
28th October 2012
Fleming’s Marschallin is caught 10 years too late in terms of vocal freshness, but her voice supplies the cream quotient in duet and trio with Sophie Koch’s forceful Octavian and Diana Damrau’s silvery Sophie. Franz Hawlata’s weather-beaten Ochs still has character, while the conducting reveals astonishing detail in Strauss’s orchestration.
11th December 2009
...we have Christian Thielemann's immaculately bittersweet conducting and Renée Fleming's Marschallin, sung and acted with superb conviction...Watch out, meanwhile, for Jonas Kaufmann's brief, but sensational appearance as the Italian Tenor.
17th January 2013
this recording...demonstrates [Thielemann's] capacity to combine warmth and depth of texture with clarity of detail and unfailing responsiveness to the nuances of text and character. There’s wit here, too, and an immaculately judged playfulness in the waltzes...The Munich Philharmonic has this music in its blood: the string playing is sublime.
