Grigorian’s voice is on the lighter side of dramatic soprano, but it gleams from the mid-range to the top with a bright timbre that doesn’t grow shrill as it ascends. She uses her voice fearlessly—as did Behrens—hurling herself into every phrase. The orchestral part is generally subdued, which deprives Strauss’s score of thrills; nonetheless, the playing by the Vienna Philharmonic is wonderful. The visuals, audio, and camera work are all excellent, with a special nod to the video direction, which is superb.

Sets a new benchmark in the performance of the title role.

Occasionally an operatic performance appears that is of such extraordinary quality that it sweeps all before it, and seems certain to have set the new artistic benchmark for the role. Such an occasion was the appearance of Asmik Grigorian as Salome…she delivers here what must surely rank as one of the great operatic performances of recent times. Hers is a soprano of burnished beauty…And she is a wonderful actress…Gábor Bretz is outstanding as Jokanaan.

[Grigorian] has everything: looks and a slender, penetrating, never steely sound...Castellucci’s “direction” is more opera as art installation than coherent text-based theatre, but Grigorian and her excellent colleagues are fabulously supported by Welser-Möst’s Vienna players on blazing form.

It’s definitely worth seeing...partly for Franz Welser-Möst’s conducting with the Vienna Philharmonic, but most of all for Asmik Grigorian’s performance in the title role. She’s a totally compelling, totally credible Salome, utterly secure vocally and fabulously contained; her performance is a real star-is-born moment.

[Grigorian] Her Salome is obviously damaged and demanding, and she avoids petulance. One of those special performances when voice, physique and intelligence all coincide in the perfect role. Bretz is a fine-toned Jochanaan and John Daszak and Anna Maria Chiuri detailed as Herod and Herodias. Franz Welser-Möst conducts with clarity and isn’t afraid to unleash the full might of the Vienna Philharmonic.