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PACO021: Ariadne auf Naxos (opera) - Richard Strauss
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Orchester des Reichssenders Berlin
Clemens Krauss, conductor
Recorded 11th June, 1935, Saal 1, Belin
XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, Sept 2007
Download ID: 350175/6/499908
(Duration 79'35")
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Ariadne auf Naxos (opera) - CAST
Ariadne (Primadonna): Viorica Ursuleac
Bacchus: Helge Rosvaenge
Brighella: Erich Zimmermann
Dryade: Gertrude Rünger
Echo: Ilona Hollendonner
Harlekin: Karl Hammes
Najade: Miliza Korjus
Scaramuccio: Benno Arnold
Truffaldino: Eugen Fuchs
Zerbinetta: Erna Berger
Notes on the restoration:
Hi Andrew - I was listening to a recording last night which I thought would be a wonderful candidate for your great restorations. The 1935 Ariadne broadcast (opera only) under Clemens Krauss. It has some elements that have not been equaled since - the Zerbinetta of Erna Berger (so charming - quite unlike the pseudo-Olympia we often get) the Bacchus of Helge Roswange (no real competion from ANYONE) and the conducting of Krauss ( he breathes with the singers in a way I rarely hear). The Ariadne is Ursuleac - ungainly but exciting in the climaxes. The sound even on the transfer I have isn;t bad and Krauss conception comes through but it could use some work... - RL
Thus began this particular project, with the first of many e-mails from a music-lover in America. I was intrigued and soon got to work. Over the following weeks the restoration gradually took shape as I battled surface noise and the difficulties of re-equalisation. At almost the very last minute everything suddenly snapped into sonic focus and the glory of this wonderful recording was finally revealed - always a moment of magic when you've battled for so long over a restoration such as this. I was glad to send the following reply to my correspondent:
If I say so myself, this is now sounding pretty stunning!
I had cut a section from my previous e-mail which suggested that I was unhappy with the results thus far achieved, and since sending it I've been out on the Net seeking an alternative reference for final EQ tweaking this afternoon, finally plumping for a recording on iTunes. The effect of using this was quite magical - and I've come to know when I've got it right, because something happened here which has happened in other recordings when the EQ is switched in: although the recording is of course mono, there's an illusion of spread where previously the sound was tight and restricted. It's hard to explain, but you'd really think you were switching in a stereo effect, instead of simply changing the tonal balance - suddenly everything sits properly in place, it sounds real, and I know it's spot on, or at least as close as I'll ever get. I can't wait to get a copy to you - it's really superb now! - AR
Viorica Ursuleac, soprano
notes from Wikipedia
Viorica Ursuleac (26 March 1894 - 22 October 1985) was a Romanian operatic soprano, the daughter of a Greek Orthodox archdeacon, born in Chernivtsi, which is now in Ukraine.
Following training in Vienna, she made her operatic debut in Zagreb (Agram), as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther, in 1922. The soprano then appeared at the Vienna Volksoper (1924-26), Frankfurt Opera (1926-30), Vienna Staatsoper (1930-35), Berlin Staatsoper (1935-37) and Munich Opera (1937-44). She married the Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss in Frankfurt during her time there.
She was Richard Strauss's favorite soprano, and he called her "die treueste aller Treuen" ("the most faithful of all the faithful"). She sang in the world premieres of four of his operas: Arabella (1933), Friedenstag (which was dedicated to Ursuleac and Krauss, 1938), Capriccio (1942), and the public dress rehearsal of Die Liebe der Danae (1944).
She appeared at the Salzburg Festival (1930-34 and 1942-43) and in one season at Covent Garden (1934), where she sang in the first performances in England of Jaromír Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper and Arabella (her favorite role). She also appeared as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello at the Royal Opera, with Lauritz Melchior in the name part, and Sir Thomas Beecham conducting.
Ursuleac also sang at the Teatro alla Scala, in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten (as the Empress), and Elektra (as Chrysothemis), Mozart's Così fan tutte, and Wagner's Die Walküre (as Sieglinde). Her only American appearances were at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, opposite Kirsten Flagstad, in 1948. Also in her repertory were the Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Leonore (Fidelio), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer, with Hans Hotter), Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Leonora (La forza del destino), Élisabeth de Valois (Don Carlos), Tosca, Minnie (La fanciulla del West), Turandot (opposite Erna Berger's Liù), Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos (first as the Composer, then as Ariadne), Die ägyptische Helena, etc.
The prima donna was created an Austrian Kammersängerin in 1934, a Prussian Kammersängerin in 1935, and gave her farewell in 1953, in Wiesbaden, in Der Rosenkavalier. She was appointed Professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1964.
Ursuleac's voice was not of great beauty, as least as recorded, but she was reckoned a great musician and actress. In the words of one colleague, the soprano Hildegard Ranczak, "Although she had a lovely, facile top, I was constantly amazed at the two hours' vocalizing she went through before each performance. Hers was, in my opinion, a marvelously constructed, not really natural voice which she used with uncanny intelligence." Ursuleac died at the age of 91, in the village of Ehrwald in the Tyrol, where she had resided since before the 1954 death of Krauss.
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