The Rosenkavalier Rosenkavalier for? Erich Kleiber / Decca, say some, others maintain Karajan / EMI, and two videos of Carlos Kleiber have a fan club of choice. Surely this live Salzburg 1969 can claim neither under nor to the final version of ideal introduction. The lightness of tone is hardly the spirit of comedy are not reign supreme, but a rather contemplative melancholy. Karl Böhm clearly decided to favor the view of the Marschallin rather than seeking to balance or to coexist with the more player, optimistic and conqueror, Octavian. Maria Theresa and Quinquin are mezzo, baritone Ochs: it is all the tonal color of the book that is drawn to the medium. The fragile light soprano Edith Mathis is only more poignant for being so rare and in a sense the lack of charisma of the singer works perfectly in this disenchanted perspective. The center tone is also that of speech as opposed to singing: Karl Böhm seems to have favored the conversation character in music. In the hands of artists such as Christa Ludwig, Tatiano Troyanos or Theo Adam (not to mention a ubiquitous blower), this genre is best served. A Rosenkavalier certainly not "ideal", but original and addictive, like a long goodbye to a doomed world, we want to know as soon deepen.
