Strauss: Daphne - Güden, Wunderlich, King [Böhm] [2 CD]

Böhm's Daphne recording, made at a festival performance in Vienna in 1964, is another Strauss classic and here, in the opera dedicated to him and of which he conducted the first performance in 1938, he is peerless. The EMI/Haitink of a few years ago (nla) came nowhere near it, even though Böhm makes some irritating cuts. Yes, there are the inaccuracies inseparable from live recording, balance is not as it would be (or should be) in the studio, and there are stage noises, but what a performance, that's what counts, and it sounds much better on CD than on the LPs many of us have treasured for years.

This is Strauss's most lyrical opera and occupies a special place in the affections of his admirers. 13Ohm's unfolding of the marvellous orchestral score, from that first oboe melody to its final metamorphosis, is the work of a master-interpreter—one has only to hear his majestic phrasing of the cellos' Peneios melody (full score, page 90) to recognize that. Hilde Gueden's Daphne is a lovely performance, sung with an engaging innocence, as befits this mysterious heroine, but also with the soaring richness that the part requires in its most dramatic passages, such as the duet with Apollo, sung by James King with power and conviction. He has never possessed a voice notable for its tonal beauty, but he is really rather impressive here.

For tonal beauty, however, there is Wunderlich as Leukippos, making something exceptionally expressive out of every phrase. Schafler's Peneois must have been better a few years earlier, but it has a noble dignity one would be hard-pressed to equal today, and Vera Little copes well with all but the lowest notes of the Erda-like part of Gaea.

– Gramophone [10/1988]
review of DG 423 5792

Information at Amazon.com

Tracklisting
Disc 1
1. Orchestereinleitung / Kleontes! / Adnrast!
2. O bleib, geliebter Tag!
3. Leukippos, du?
4. Daphne! / Mutter! / Wir warten dein
5. Ei, so fliegt sie dahin
6. Seid ihr um mich, ihr Hirten alle?
7. Ich grüße dich, weiser, erfahrener Fischer
8. Was führt dich her im niedern Grewand

Disc 2
1. Dieser Kuß - dies Umarmen
2. Trinke, du Tochter!
3. Furchtbare Schmach dem Gotte!
4. Zu dir nun, Knabe!
5. Jeden heiligen Morgen
6. Unheilvolle Daphne!
7. Was erblicke ich?
8. Daphnes verwandlung / Ich komme - ich komme - grünende Brüder
9. Mondlichtmusik