Although religious and moral sensibilities prevented Salome from being performed in Vienna until 1918 (some 13 years after its première in not so distant Dresden) Richard Strauss subsequently conducted his ‘scandalous’ opera at the Wiener Staatsoper on multiple occasions. His last performance was in 1942 so it is no wonder the Wiener Staatsoper orchestra can draw on authentic musical traditions in its playing of this fascinating, kaleidoscopic score which Gustav Mahler once described it as “a live volcano”.
The production by Boleslaw Barlog and Jürgen Rose also has impressive longevity. It was first seen in 1972 when conducted by Karl Böhm with Leonie Rysanek in the title role and has been successfully dusted off on more than 200 occasions. The stage concept still works so well because there is absolutely nothing controversial about it. Barlog follows Strauss’ directions implicitly and in bringing most of the drama to the front of the set, lessens the risk of the singers being swamped by the tsunami of orchestral sound – but not by much.
Apart from exemplary orchestral playing, the strength of this performance was the remarkable quality of all the principal singers with the exception of the Narraboth of Carlos Osuna who was vocally and dramatically underwhelming.
Even the gaggle of bickering Jews, Nazarenes and soldiers was more than acceptable, particularly the First Nazarene of Alexandru Moisiuc who sang his short “Er ist gekommen” passage with commendable lyricism and sensitivity.
Making her Vienna debut in the role of Herodias, English mezzo-soprano Carole Wilson scored a singular triumph. Here was a singer/actress of Regina Resnik calibre who was as fascinating to watch as she was to hear. Imperious, nagging, disdainful and domineering, it was clear she made Herodes’ life sheer hell. Regrettably she looked rather like Terence Stamp as Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but this just made the performance even more memorable. Her exasperated fortissimo top A natural on “Er soll schweigen!” was Nilsson-esque.
As the long-suffering, lustful Tetrach, veteran tenor Herwig Pecoraro (an outstanding Mime in Simon Rattle’s Ring earlier this year) was utterly convincing. Sly, cowardly, pompous, superstitious and palpably sexually obsessed with his stepdaughter, this was in all respects an outstanding characterization. On a vocal level, Mr Pecoraro was similarly impressive and the final top B flat on “Man töte dieses Weib!” could have been mistaken for Wolfgang Windgassen in his prime.
Current Staatsoper Lieblingskind Tomasz Konieczny (which appropriately means ‘necessary’ in Polish) sang an impassioned and potent Jochanaan. His upper register is really thrilling and top F sharps and E naturals were clarion in tone and piercing in projection. There was also some beautiful phrasing in “und such des Menschen Sohn” and “auf dem See von Galiläa”. “Niemals, Tochter Babylons!” was growled with real menace. His singing of “der Könige gekündet hat” and top F natural on the final “Du bist verflucht!” was so powerful that even the barrage of brass was matched in volume. Konieczny’s only negative was a tendency to flap his arms around in the manner of a sign-language interpreter, but this visual distraction did little to detract from the overall vocal excellence.