Carlos Kleiber has conducted Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in the most famous opera houses all over the world: the Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera, but nowhere as much as at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Der Rosenkavalier
Photo: Archive of the Bayerische StaatsoperThe fact that all of these performances, far from routine repertoire renditions, justifiably remain in the audience’s memory as moments of bliss, is proven by the recording of the 1973 festival performance: In Kleiber’s performance, all the score’s manifold elements are taken into account, from the tempestuous and dancelike passages to others in which the musical argument, meditative and melancholic by turns, comes to a virtual rest.
C 581 083 DA year after the première of the Munich production, the performance starts reaping the benefits of what is a perfectly harmonised ensemble, one whose quality does not diminish as a result of recasting certain roles. The different vocal characteristics of the various singing personalities also inspire Kleiber to bring to light other details of the score, details to which audiences are less accustomed from other interpretations. The blackness and the seriousness of the basso of Karl Ridderbusch as Baron Ochs is made all the more intense by the almost threatening quality of the orchestra – and even more refreshing by the purposefully performed comic punchlines. The wise melancholy of the Marschallin is celebrated by the experienced Claire Watson and Carlos Kleiber with equally shadowed quality and accentuation.
Der Rosenkavalier
Photo: Archive of the Bayerische StaatsoperThe vocal freshness and natural impetuosity of Lucia Popp as Sophie and Brigitte Fassbaender in the title-role of the opera match Carlos Kleiber’s direction in its unrestrained, but never forced, vigour. This continues until the final delicate duet between the perfectly cast young lovers, who, at the end, feel much like the opera’s listeners: Nothing is like how it was. This results not least from the Bavarian State Orchestra, performing in all sections with the highest concentration and quickest reaction times to Kleiber’s impulses, and fully in keeping with and doing justice to the great Strauss tradition. Similarly, the choir and the horde of ensemble members in the important supporting roles add distinction and preciseness to textual clarity and at the same time to musical beauty.