Strauss, R: Ariadne auf Naxos - Blu-ray video

Ariadne auf Naxos is one of the many beautifully crafted operas created by Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. In this compelling production – directed by Claus Guth – Christoph von Dohnányi leads a particularly strong cast of singer-actors in a thrilling interpretation of the work. Ariadne is sung by the American soprano Emily Magee, who has received worldwide praise for her performances in works by both Wagner and Strauss. The German-born Italian tenor Roberto Saccà, who is now regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of his generation, takes the part of Bacchus.

Exploring the essence of the piece, Claus Guth and his designer Christian Schmidt worked with the binary opposites that are posited on every level of the work and that seem to be so clear-cut: on the one hand, there is the reality of the prologue and, on the other, the artificiality of the opera. An entertaining and intelligently crafted production of one of the key operas exploring the intertextuality that occurs between “real life” and what today would be called “virtual reality”.

Sound Formats: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

Picture Format: 16:9

Resolution: 1080i FULL HD

Subtitle Languages: DE (Original Language), GB, FR, ES, IT

Running Time: 127 mins

Blu-ray Disc: 50 GB (Dual Layer)

FSK: 0

Filmed live in Baden-Baden by the veteran director Brian Large, Renée Fleming makes her debut in the role of Ariadne together with fellow key Strauss interpreters Sophie Koch and Christian Thielemann, following on from their Rosenkavalier triumph.

Thielemann conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden, the orchestra to whom Strauss dedicated his Alpine Symphony and which premiered Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Daphne.

Fleming's voice might have been made for Ariadne and she achieved a great personal triumph in this production:

“The chief glory of the evening was hearing Renée Fleming, the Straussian soprano par excellence, making her role debut as Ariadne… As the possessor of what is, possibly, the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, she put her vocal treasures in the service of an empathic, nuanced interpretation of the role. From the creamy top, through a rich, warm middle, to the bewitching, darker colours of her lower register, Fleming poured her magnificent sound into Strauss’s enchanting melodic arcs, animating the sadness, vulnerability, and desire of the bereft princess...” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung