| Date and venue | Title | Submitted by |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Sep-2012 Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall | Musical drama with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra | Capriccio, capricciomusic.blogspot.com |
 Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten is perhaps his most problematic opera, in that it contains all that is best and worst in him, to the most maddening degrees. Famously he failed to respond instinctively to Hoffmansthal’s symbol-laden libretto, and the music reflects this: though Strauss is at the peak of his powers technically, the opera was effortfully and unenthusiastically composed (we have the composer’s word on this) and the music remains largely earthbound despite its extraordinary energy and endless resource.Read full review... | ||
| 2-Sep-2011 Edinburgh Festival Theatre | The Mariinsky at Edinburgh serve up near-perfect Strauss | David Karlin |
 Once upon a time, an Emperor was hunting when his red falcon caught a white gazelle. As he grasped the animal, it transformed into a beautiful princess in his arms and they fell in love. She was the daughter of Keikobad, the King of the spirit world, a woman of such translucent beauty that she cast no shadow, but she lived under a curse...
Read full review... | ||
| 1-Aug-2011 Großes Festspielhaus | The Salzburg Festival's Die Frau ohne Schatten | Zerbinetta |
 Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal began their collaboration on Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) with utopian ambitions. Unfortunately they weren’t the same ones. For Hofmannsthal, this would finally be the opera where his poetry would be illuminated by rather than buried under the music. For Strauss, this was to be his magnum opus, the self-proclaimed “last Romantic opera” that would cement his place in musical history.Read full review... | ||
