Vienna State Opera

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, K620

Mozart was always an important and regular feature of Solti's career as conductor in the opera house and concert hall as well as in the recording studio and also as a pianist, and at the start of his career he participated in performances of Die Zauberflöte at Salzburg under Toscanini in 1937. Solti conducted Die Zauberflöte himself at Salzburg in 1956 to mark the 200th anniversary of Mozart's birth and again in 1991 when he made his second rexcording of the opera. Solti's first recording of Die Zauberflöte was made in Vienna in 1969 and was his first complete Mozart opera recording; it is now reissued in Decca "Originals" and is available at mid-price for the first time.

Strauss, R: Intermezzo, Op. 72

Live Recording 1/5/1963

If singers loved working with Joseph Keilberth [1908-1968], it was because he brought to all his opera performances a deep knowledge of the work in question, a stick technique that left them in no doubt as to his intentions and a highly considerate musical sensitivity. Even in luxuriantly scored works he never lost his ability to ensure a perfect balance between stage and pit.These were ideal conditions for a work like Richard Strauss's 'bourgeois comedy', Intermezzo, for which the composer wrote his own libretto - only the second time that he had done so since the failure of his first opera, Guntram, 30 years earlier. In his depiction of a marital row between Court Kapellmeister Robert Storch and his wife, Strauss did not fight shy of ironic allusions to his own connubial domesticity.The Vienna State Opera mounted a new production of this rarely heard work at the Theater an der Wien in 1963, when Keilberth and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra had at their disposal a team of singers who, thanks to their excellent diction and acting skills, were able to capture the conversational tone that is required but which is so difficult to achieve. Leading the ensemble is Hanny Steffek as the Kapellmeister's wife, Christine. She enjoyed an international career as a Strauss soprano, most notably as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, which she sang at Covent Garden under Solti in 1959. Alongside her is Hermann Prey as Storch, a role tailor-made for him both physically and vocally, so much so, indeed, that he was still cutting a fine figure in the part 25 years later in the composer's home city of Munich.The two tenors in the 1963 Intermezzo,Waldemar Kmentt and Ferry Gruber, had equally long careers, making their mark in roles that serve initially to fuel the petty jealousies between Storch and his wife before ultimately leaving the coast clear for a suitably harmonious ending

Strauss, R: Die Frau ohne Schatten

Live from the Vienna State Opera

Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72

Never before released (we do not acknowledge pirate productions!), recorded at a single evening's performance (25 May 1962), this Fidelio, under the baton of Herbert von Karajan (who was also responsible for the acclaimed stage production), is remarkable for its spontaneity and sense of theatrical presence.

Gundula Janowitz

Live 1962-1990

Weber: Der Freischütz

Live 1972

Live Recordings 1993-1996

Plácido Domingo

Works by Verdi, Bellini, Puccini, Giordano, Meyerbeer, Offenbach, Bizet,Tchaikovsky & Wagner

Vienna State Opera Live 1967 - 1999. Extracts from Don Carlo,Trovatore, Otello,Traviata, Puritani, Giuramento, Bohème,Tosca, Fanciulla del West, Andrea Chénier, Pagliacci, Le Prophète, Contes d'Hoffmann, Carmen, Samson et Dalila, Hérodiade, Pique Dame, Lohengrin,Walküre & Parsifal

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527

A live performance from the Salzberg Festival. Recorded 24th July 1956