This opera has been referred to as Richard Strauss’ “bel canto” opera, but it’s impossible to figure out why. It requires a great dramatic soprano and tenor (as well as a high, chirpy soprano, good mezzo, and second tenor), but there are few melodies and those you can catch are brief; in addition, there are only a few moments where Strauss’ love for the female voice can be noticed. Helena’s opening five minutes in Act 2 is the major spot, but nowhere is there anything of the loveliness or sumptuousness of, say, the “Presentation of the Silver Rose” or the last 15 minutes from Rosenkavalier, none of the tenor-soprano writing can touch the same in Daphne, and no ensemble is as moving or spectacular as the first few minutes of the last act of Frau. The orchestration is excitingly, lushly, fascinatingly Frau-like, but it’s overblown in this story of marital aggravation and reconciliation, and Hoffmanstahl’s libretto is complicated with symbolism just when it ought to turn lighthearted. In short, and not to put too fine a point on it, Die Ägyptische Helena makes for an unsatisfying evening at the opera; you feel bombarded when it’s over.
I happen to have been at the performance recorded here and that sense of bombardment was far more pronounced live. Telarc’s engineers deserve medals for their ability to locate the beautiful strands of the score and (seemingly naturally) to make the voices audible amid the in-your-face loud exoticism Strauss seems so desperate to impress us with. I suspect make-up sessions as well; some of tenor Carl Tanner’s singing in the very difficult role of Menelaus was far more raw in his live performance. On this recording he sounds virile and alive, with a fine, darkish tone, and he wisely ducks the high-C at the end of his duet with Helena in the first act.
There are two other recordings of this opera available (that I know of): one with Leonie Rysanek and one with Gwyneth Jones in the title role. Soprano Deborah Voigt here outsings both. The voice soars effortlessly through the endless music and is rich from top to bottom. The tone is luxurious, and if that second-act “aria” could have been taken a bit more expansively it would have been even better. (Leontyne Price recorded it years ago for RCA and it’s a benchmark.)
The assisting cast is very strong: Celena Shafer as Aithra, Poseidon’s mistress and the manipulator of the plot (blame her), is a high, lovely soprano who inflects nicely; Jill Grove’s mezzo is rich as the Omniscient Sea Shell; tenor Eric Cutler does what he can with the role of Da-Ud; and baritone Christopher Robertson, though he’s often overwhelmed by the rest of the cast in this ungrateful role, is a good Altair, a desert chieftain. The work needs a strong leader and Leon Botstein takes the American Symphony Orchestra and Concert Chorale into the first ranks. So there you have it–a very fine performance of a Strauss all-you-can-eat smorgasbord. Not all the food is great, but there’s plenty of it, and for the most part we can be truly grateful to the chef.
