Word: streich
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...silver-hued voice seems less moving in the role of the suffering Orpheus than the lyric baritone of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, imaginatively cast by Decca in its German-language version. The supporting casts in both albums are excellent: Sopranos Suzanne Danco and Pierette Alarie (Epic), Maria Stader and Rita Streich (Decca). Despite the good singing, the recordings suffer from the opera's basic structural fault. Groundbreaker though he was in his own day, Composer Gluck stuck too closely to wearisome, undramatic alternation of choral passages and recitatives, thus kept his often lovely work from stirring into full-bodied life...
...Magic Flute (RIAS Symphony Orchestra, chorus and soloists conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; Decca, 3 LPs). Despite its slightly studied style and rather tubby sound, this is the finest recording yet to appear of the 165-year-old masterpiece. Soprano Maria Stader makes Pamina a joy to the ear; Rita Streich is awesomely secure in the Queen of the Night's sky-high aerobatics, while the two leading men, Tenor Ernst Häfliger and Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, use their handsome voices with distinction...
Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan; Angel, 3 LPs). One of Strauss's important operas, handicapped by a confused libretto, but abetted by some soaringly lyrical music. Even when the score is less than inspired, the cast's three unbeatable leading sopranos melt the listener...