New recording Label Solo Musica: Richard Strauss Elektra with an opulent cast.

The recording is characterised by an uncompromising fidelity to the work, which makes it possible to experience Richard Strauss' masterpiece in all its facets. All of the passages that are usually cancelled, which are essential for understanding the work and its power, have been opened up. Richard Strauss himself emphasised in his memoirs how important words and singing were to him in the opera. He reported that the conductor Ernst von Schuch unleashed the orchestra at the dress rehearsal to such an extent that Strauss had to muffle him in order to maintain a balance with the voices.

This admonition accompanied Julien Salemkour and Barbara Krieger as they rehearsed Elektra – a process for which they made intensive use of the covid period. The production was an extraordinary endeavour and an impressive example of creative solutions in difficult times. When it was hardly possible to realise larger music projects, the team decided on an unusual approach: The orchestra was to be recorded first, and the soloists would sing their parts later to the existing orchestral recording – and so a number of international artists came together under the most difficult corona conditions at different times in different places for the recordings.

Barbara Krieger took on the title role – an artist who has recently been celebrated in particular as Elektra, Fidelio-Leonore and Isolde. Other renowned Strauss interpreters such as Astrid Weber, Sanja Anastasia and Jochen Kupfer complete the ensemble. Tenor Sotiris Charalampous makes his impressive debut as Aegisth.

The internationally acclaimed conductor Julien Salemkour gives the singers unprecedented space to sing and breathe, while at the same time unfolding a tonal opulence that does justice to the origins of this score in all its facets.

Experience an Elektra that impresses with its unleashed orchestral sound as well as its extraordinary text comprehensibility – a combination that rarely succeeds.