IDOMENEO (arr. Richard Strauss)
Robert Gambill Idomeneo
Britta Stallmeister Ilia
Camilla Nylund Ismene
Iris Vermillon Idamantes
Chor der Sächsischen Staatsoper Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Fabio Luisi
Live Recording, Salzburg Festival, August 2006
ORFEO C 701 072 I (2 CD)
(flac&scans)
This edition of Mozart's Idomeneo is an adaptation published by Richard Strauss in 1930. It is an extraordinary document, that should not be read philologically by having Mozart's original in mind, which would not make sense, but rather as a unique testimony of a taste often found in the early 20th Century music, and which purports to compare the modern lesson with the revered tradition of the past. Other outstanding examples of this approach are Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride again by Strauss and Carl Orff's edition of Monteverdi's Orfeo. In other words, it is a certain 20th Century musical world which - by following Wagner's footsteps - brings back to life the great tradition of musical drama by adapting it to its aesthetics and language.