As much as any opera I know, Richard Strauss' "Salome," now on view at the Capitol Theatre, needs to be seen to be appreciated.
Not that audio recordings can't convey a fair measure of the music's power. In that regard, I would direct one to the Solti and Karajan CDs, both of which come strongly to terms with the eeriness and elemental force of the writing.But for the full measure of what its creators intended as a theatrical encounter, "Salome" needs to be experienced in a theater - or, failing that, via home video.
In that regard, the above-listed Pioneer Classics laserdisc is particularly welcome, preserving as it does one of the most talked-about productions of the last quarter-century with the same unforgettable - and, at one point, specta-cularly unclad - leading lady.
That is Maria Ewing, who was in the title role when this Peter Hall-directed production premiered in Los Angeles in 1986. Likewise the first performances at Covent Garden two years later, and again in 1992 (when this taping was made), and San Francisco Opera's mounting of it in 1993.
Here as there, she is Salome to the life, very much the precociously sensuous teenager - "a 16-year-old princess with the voice of Isolde," Strauss called the character - her silvery upper register reinforcing the sickly, nocturnal atmosphere of the staging itself.
Whether contemplating Jokanaan with a depraved smile - "Er ist schrecklich. Er ist wirchlich schrecklich," she says, letting the words play on her lips - or pressing her request for his head upon the crazed Herod, she remains totally convincing, as though living the role for the first time.
In this context, her "Dance of the Seven Veils" ends logically with her dramatically bared onstage. More amazing, however, is the frenzied conviction with which she puts it across, together with the fact that, after such a workout, her voice should not only regain its strength but seem at its loveliest for her gripping final aria.
To my ears Michael Devlin makes a tight-voiced Jokanaan; nor have I gotten used to the body makeup that accentuates his white skin and black hair to Kabuki-like extremes. Kenneth Riegel's whiningly weak-willed Herod is a plus, however, even if Edward Downes' conducting seems longer on color and lyricism than dramatic punch.
Against this we have the Teldec laserdisc, which also captures a live performance, from Berlin in 1990, and the 1974 Goetz Friedrich film, available on Deutsche Grammophon.
The first offers Catherine Malfitano's eye-rolling, scenery-chewing interpretation of the title role, forcefully sung but so unsubtle as to be embarrassing even in the context of this opera, along with Simon Estes' commandingly resonant Jokanaan and the exciting conducting of Giuseppe Sinopoli. I do not find the latter two sufficient compensation for the soprano's overacting.
The Friedrich film, however, is something else. Laser buffs may be disappointed in its softened image, especially vis-a-vis the sharpness of the Pioneer disc. But in every other way it remains the most decadently atmospheric production, and performance, of "Salome" on home video.
For that credit not only Friedrich but conductor Karl Boehm, who brings out both the score's beauty and its drama. Witness the serpentine wind solos, the grandeur of the Nazarenes' pro-clamations and the shatteringly rich climaxes.
As Salome, Teresa Stratas may not equal Ewing's identification with the role but she is a potent dramatic force nonetheless, by turns tender, vulnerable, primitive and perverted. She is matched, moreover, by the bloated Herod of Hans Beirer and the Herodias of Astrid Varnay, easily the most chilling assumption of this role I have seen.
For his part Bernd Weikl makes a noble Jokanaan and, in time-honored Vienna tradition, the so-called lesser roles are likewise taken by name singers (e.g., Friedrich Lenz and Kurt Equiluz among the Jews).
The silvers and grays of Friedrich's fortress may seem less sickly than the blues, blacks and blue-greens of Hall's staging, but they surround an even more frightening court. His frequent use of closeups also gives less of a total stage picture but lends Salome's execution even greater impact.
So for a live "Salome," I would opt for the Pioneer disc, largely because of Ewing. But for an experience so otherworldly as to make you forget you're not onstage, try DG's. Either way, like the opera itself, you won't forget it.