R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier. Evelyn Lear (sop) Die Feldmarschallin; Frederica von Stade (mez) Octavian; Jules Bastin (bass) Baron Ochs; Ruth Welting (sop) Sophie; Derek Hammond-Stroud (bar) Faninal; Jose Carreras (ten) Italian Tenor; Sophia van Sante (mez) Annina; Jaunes Atberton (ten) Valzacchi; Nelly Morpurgo (sop) Leitmetzerin; Renee van Haarlem (sop) Milliner; Henk Smit (bass) Notary, Police Commissioner; Wouter Goedhardt (ten) Marschallin's Major-domo; Matthijs Coppens (ten) Faninal's Majordomo, Animal Seller; Adriaan van Limpt (ten) Landlord; Netherlands Opera Chorus; Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Edo de Waart.

Philips (Mid price) (CD) 442 086-2PM3 (three discs: 206 minutes: ADD). Notes, text and translation included. From 6707 030 (8/77).

You may want this version for Frederica von Stade's beautifully sung, engaging, fully characterized Octavian or for Carreras's brief incursion as the Italian Tenor. The former will be a better reason than the latter for acquiring it. Von Stade takes the part, as on stage, with vibrant passion intensity and a nice feeling for the role's comic aspects—perhaps her best performance on disc. Edo de Waart's conducting is lithe and unfussy—William Mann in his original review rightly praised it for being "musicianly and spirited" and liked the unforced playing of the orchestra. I admire de Waart for giving the score a really Mozartian grace, and for never overblowing the purple passages, a characteristic he shares with his fellow countryman, Haitink. Carreras, at the peak of his career in 1976, sings his aria with outgoing elan. Hammond-Stroud's Faninal is as appropriately pointed and fussy as I recall it at the ENO.

The rest isn't so alluring. Lear's soprano sounds distinctly worn and unfocused, and her Marschallin hasn't the attractive timbre of Reining (Kleiber) or the depth of feeling shown by Ludwig (Bohm) on the rival mid-price versions. She has worked hard, perhaps too hard, at her interpretation. Welting's Sophie is keenly sung but slightly brittle and monochrome. Bastin has neither the true bass timbre nor the idiomatic diction to do real justice to Ochs, though his is a lively enough reading. The smaller roles are mostly taken by Dutch singers, adequate, but no more. The score is presented complete. The recording is clear and warm, but has the singers somewhat backwardly placed.

At mid-price Bohm's newly issued 1969 live Salzburg account is a winner if you don't mind the traditional theatre cuts. The old Decca/Kleiber remains a wonderfully exhilarating and truly ensemble reading led by a master hand and with Jurinac as an Octavian as enjoyable as von Stade's—and the work is given complete. Its dated sound tells somewhat against it. If price is no hindrance, and you want all Strauss's notes, the choice lies between Solti's typically vivid, enthusiastic interpretation and Haitink's more sober but equally life-enhancing account—but neither has an Octavian quite in the von Stade class.

Copyright © 1994 Gramophone Magazine.