# Solti the opera conductor........whataya think?



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I like his Wagner, but don't know much else.

What's your opinion?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Can't stand him in Verdi. He has a great cast for Aida, but I find the conducting bombastic and four square. His La Traviata with Gheorghiu has no lyricism. All we hear is the oom pan pah rhythms. I had exactly the same impression when I heard the performance in the theatre. Gheorghiu was so good then. Of course that was before she became a prima donna. The only opera recording of Solti's I have is his Tannhauser. I've never been tempted by anything else.


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## Zabirilog (Mar 10, 2013)

Looking at him conducting the Ring is kind of an interesting experience. I'd say that the orchestra could play well even without him waving his hands like a mad. Less is more, and that makes sense also in conducting


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

OK in Bartok and Tippett, good in Mozart operas (_Die Entführung_ in particular).

On top of my head, I´ve also got him in _Das Lied von der Erde_, _Sacre_, some Wagner operas etc., but I don´t collect him. The Decca recordings have good sound and are often engaged, but sometimes lacking breath and bigger architecture, IMHO.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I know his Wagner best, and find it a mixed bag. His _Ring_ is justly admired for its orchestral brilliance, dynamism and power, though Decca's sound and the Vienna Philharmonic must take plenty of credit too. Interestingly, the _Walkure_ is a weak link in the cycle, with Solti unable to sustain a sense of overall dramatic shape in the difficult second act. That points up his strengths and weaknesses; he's at his best in energetic music that falls into clear forms, but Wagner's undulating emotional curves often don't provide such obvious structural guidelines. Solti's tendency to episodic thrills and a lack of equivalent intensity in the quieter "transitional" moments is not much of a problem in the earlier operas and much of the _Ring_; _Rheingold_ and _Siegfried_ may even benefit from it, and _Gotterdammerung_ shows the conductor at his most alert and dedicated in a reading of real power and grandeur. I think he's pretty good in _Parsifal_, though falling short of the long-breathed majesty and rapt songfulness of a Knappertsbusch or Muck; here again he's most effective where the music's structure is most obvious, as in the Grail temple scenes and the preludes and interludes. Unfortunately, Solti's stab-and-retreat method is quite beside the point in _Tristan_, by far his worst Wagner recording. I haven't heard either of his _Meistersingers_.

Outside of Wagner, I recall only his _Aida_ and _Falstaff_. After knowing the latter in Karajan's classic recording, I found Solti's a bit brutal.


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## OperaGeek (Aug 15, 2014)

I think Solti is very uneven as an opera conductor - on disc, at least. I don't know all his recordings, but the ones I do know range from the brilliant to the best avoided.

Since the OP is familiar with and enjoys Solti's Wagner, Solti's *Strauss* "shockers" should be self-recommending. Others find more light and shade in "Salome" and "Elektra", but Solti's recordings still have a lot going for them.

_"Salome"_ is a personal favourite among Strauss' operas, and Solti's recording is quite a ride - not for the faint-hearted. Personally, I prefer the more nuanced approach of Karajan, Sinopoli or Dohnányi (among stereo recordings), but no-one beats Solti (and Nilsson) for sheer visceral excitement. The only real drawback is the balance between voices and orchestra, which puts Eberhard Wächter's first-class Jochanaan at a distinct disadvantage.

Solti's _"Die Frau ohne Schatten"_ and _"Arabella"_ are very worthwhile, too.

Solti's *Verdi* is very uneven. Unlike some, I quite enjoy his _"Aida"_, even though Vickers' Radamès is an acquired taste (I have not acquired it). While sometimes rather overbearing, Solti's conducting has its moments. For instance, the entire Aida/Amonasro duet is excellent, Solti providing strong support to his superb singers - Price and Merrill at their best. His first _"Otello"_ is well worth a listen, too.

I'd steer clear of his (RCA) _"Rigoletto"_, though, as Solti's far too aggressive conducting wastes a terrific cast. His _"Simon Boccanegra"_ is also one to avoid, as both Solti and the very capable cast all sound uninspired. Some critics praise both of his recordings of _"Un ballo in maschera"_, but I personally think other recordings are considerably more interesting (Muti or Leinsdorf, for example).

Of Solti's Mozart, I'm familiar with his _"Die Entführung as dem Serail"_, the _"Figaro"_ and the second _"Zauberflöte"_. They are all among my personal favourite recordings of the respective operas, as they find Solti at his energetic best, and have excellent casts.

Solti hasn't made many *Puccini* recordings, and, judging by his _"Tosca"_, that's no great loss. It's a disappointing, very studio-bound recording. Kiri te Kanawa sings exquisitely - I have never heard a more beautifully sung performance of the part, but the character of Tosca is muted. Despite te Kanawa's lovely voice, Aragall's very capable Cavaradossi and excellent sound, the recording as a whole is not recommendable. I haven't heard Solti's (RCA) _"Bohème"_.

As for operas by other composers, I'm familiar only with Solti's _"Fidelio"_. It's rather disappointing, not so much because of him, but because the cast isn't up to the standards of the best of the competition.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I like his Dutchman,fav, Tannhauser,fav, Lohengrin,top 2 or 3, Ring,fave,
Meistersinger 2, fave, Parsifal,top 2.

His first Cosi and Don are pretty good.

I like the Falstaff I just got. It's a fireball, but kinda like Toscanini's.

I like his Strauss, but like Bohm's and Sinopoli's a bit better.


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## OperaGeek (Aug 15, 2014)

Itullian said:


> I like his Dutchman,fav, Tannhauser,fav, Lohengrin,top 2 or 3, Ring,fave,
> Meistersinger 2, fave, Parsifal,top 2.


You, my friend, are a Solti fan! Nothing wrong with that.

I'm a bit more divided on his Wagner, but it all boils down to personal preference, of course.

His _"Dutchman"_ was my first ever Wagner recording, and I loved it. Still do - the opera and Solti's style are a good fit, but I'd love to have a different Dutchman and Senta... Solti's "_Tannhäuser_" is a clear first choice - agreed. The Chicago "_Meistersinger_" is very good, but the Kubelik is rather special... I like Solti's "_Parsifal_" a lot, but with Fischer-Dieskau's Amfortas, a podium finish is out of the question for me. The _"Lohengrin"_ doesn't make it to the top five, and the _"Ring"_ is just too brash and loud for my taste. Solti's _"Tristan"_ has been collecting dust in my shelf for several years - I still haven't given it a shot. How do you like it?


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Haven't heard his Tristan.

And not really. I have none of his orchestral stuff.

The Kubelik is my other fav, but the Solti end of Act 3 gives me the chills with its awesome sound and chorus.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Solti's best operatic work in my opinion was Le Nozze...(Te Kanawa/Von Stade)

Apart from the Ring cycle, Salome (Nilsson/Waechter) and La Traviata (Gheorghiu, Lopardo) are certainly a couple of great listens but that's about it. When he was hot, he was very hot....but not often enough in opera.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Beside his Wagner (but not everything...), this is my reference recording of his operatic output










Still the best _Entführung_ so far, imo.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

​
And for me this one, Troyanos must be the most sexy Carmen I heard.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Pugg said:


> ​
> And for me this one, Troyanos must be the most sexy Carmen I heard.


Funny, I find her rather anonymous, a bit like Bumbry on the Frucbeck de Burgos version.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> Solti's best operatic work in my opinion was Le Nozze...(Te Kanawa/Von Stade)
> 
> Apart from the Ring cycle, Salome (Nilsson/Waechter) and La Traviata (Gheorghiu, Lopardo) are certainly a couple of great listens but that's about it. When he was hot, he was very hot....but not often enough in opera.


Traviata is only any good because of Gheorghiu. Solti's conducting has no lyricism; the strings never sing as they do under conductors like Kleiber, Serafin or Muti. The men on this recording aren't much cop either.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Funny, I find her rather anonymous, a bit like Bumbry on the Frucbeck de Burgos version.


I'd go for Callas myself; the-- as one critic put it-- "tigress sharpening her claws in the sun."

It was _Carmen_ that turned Nietzsche's head away from Wagner; and I daresay, if Nietzsche lived in Divina's time, then an intelligent artistic genius like Callas would turn Nietzsche's head away from the love of his life, Lou Salome, as well.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> Funny, I find her rather anonymous, a bit like Bumbry on the Frucbeck de Burgos version.


I agree with you. Troyanos did nothing for me as Carmen.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I found Solti's Electra exciting.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

hpowders said:


> I found Solti's Electra exciting.


Me too (and his Salome is very good, although, I must confess, I tend to turn to Sinopoli's DG album more often). I do like Solti's recording of Berlioz's "Le Damnation de Faust" immensely where the tender moments are quite captivating. His Lohengrin is special. I think, and perhaps I'm (a bit) off, he had gotten better as an opera conductor as his career progressed (more absorbing and penetrating than in his younger years).


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

dholling said:


> Me too (and his Salome is very good, although, I must confess, I tend to turn to Sinopoli's DG album more often). I do like Solti's recording of Berlioz's "Le Damnation de Faust" immensely where the tender moments are quite captivating. His Lohengrin is special. I think, and perhaps I'm (a bit) off, he had gotten better as an opera conductor as his career progressed (more absorbing and penetrating than in his younger years).


Yes. I have his Le Damnation de Faust excerpts and it is very fine.

That Elektra with Nilsson and Resnik is something else!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

hpowders said:


> Yes. I have his Le Damnation de Faust excerpts and it is very fine.
> 
> That Elektra with Nilsson and Resnik is something else!


I agree about the Elektra, but the Salome sounds all wrong to me, because Nilsson doesn't sound remotely right as the young princess. Behrens on the Karajan recording for me, or, from an earlier time, Welitsch from the Met.


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## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

Once I moved to London in the sixties, I saw Solti a great deal at Covent Garden. He was a magnificent Strauss conductor His Die Frau Ohne Schatten in 1967 was one of the greatest performances I ever saw or will ever see. He was born to conduct Strauss,
his Rosenkavalier and Elektra were also very fine. As a Wagner conductor, I found that he got better and better, even more than in his commercial recordings.
His Meistersinger in 1969 suffered badly in comparison to the Goodall "Mastersinger" production just a few months earlier.
It was pretty good, but I would suggest that the humour and even more, the feeling for the music, just eluded him. 

His Dutchman, with David Ward and Gwyneth Jones was electrifying, his Tristan in 1971 was much better than the studio recording because by that time, he had finally performed it in the opera house at the MET in 1963 and the 1971 performances were very rewarding.
His Parsifal in 1979 was also much better than his recording.
Solti had the terrible habit of recording works before he had ever performed them. In the case of his Tristan in 1960, that was not entirely his fault - Nilsson insisted on doing it immediately even although Decca had no Tristan. She threatened to leave Decca otherwise - this would have been a disaster to the Solti Ring.
I saw his Ring(in bits - spread over 5 years) and it was Great!
One aspect of his Verdi conducting that I enjoyed was Falstaff in 1978. It was the farewell run of performances by Sir Geraint Evans, one of the great post-war exponents of the title role and Solti conducted it like a fabulous bottle of champagne - bubbling and fizzing from start to finish. This late Verdi suited him, it is more symphonic and can be conducted so.
However his lyric Verdi was never a great success. 
All in all - he was great in Strauss and almost as great in Wagner.
I don't have any of his commercial opera recordings any more, but I do have all the broadcasts from those great days.
Just issued on Testament is one of the great Die Walküre performances of those times.
From Covent Garden 1961 with Hotter, Gorr and Anita Valkki as Brünnhilde, and the greatest combination of Sieglinde and Siegmund I have ever heard. Claire Watson and Jon Vickers. 
Solti and Vickers fell out during these performances and apart from the already contracted recording of Aida to be made shortly after, Vickers refused ever to work with Solti again...and it unfortunately remained so.
Solti did not have the temperament to do everything well, but he was very good at the Austro-Germanic repertoire.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> I agree about the Elektra, but the Salome sounds all wrong to me, because Nilsson doesn't sound remotely right as the young princess. Behrens on the Karajan recording for me, or, from an earlier time, Welitsch from the Met.


Yes. I would also take Behrens/Karajan in Salome.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Not a fan. Ever since i heard his Salome it put me off..then Tosca and finally the parts of the Ring i have heard from Solti i did not like the sound reproduction and take a scene like the Dance of the 9 veils..i just think others do it better. His playing is too muscular and big and misses some of the subtleties


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I don't like watching him, he conducts like a nervous wreck.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Yashin said:


> Not a fan. Ever since i heard his Salome it put me off..then Tosca and finally the parts of the Ring i have heard from Solti i did not like the sound reproduction and take a scene like the Dance of the 9 veils..i just think others do it better. His playing is too muscular and big and misses some of the subtleties


Does she acquire an extra 2 in Solti's version then? :lol: Sorry. Couldn't resist.


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## Rangstrom (Sep 24, 2010)

For me he is consistently top draw for Wagner (especially Tannhauser, Meistersinger 2 and the Ring), I even enjoyed his Tristan. For Stauss, Solti is a must have. The Mozart operas are enjoyable but I concede that the Verdi sets are rough and tumble.

Solti is in that limbo of no longer recording but not gone long enough to acquire the old master "patina" he'll have in a decade or so. Solti and the CSO/Decca sound was a magic combination.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> Traviata is only any good because of Gheorghiu. Solti's conducting has no lyricism; the strings never sing as they do under conductors like Kleiber, Serafin or Muti. The men on this recording aren't much cop either.


I agree with you about the singers but I was only referring to Solti. There's better conducting on record but this thread is only about Solti's works so Kleiber et al. aren't considered. 
Solti was never know for his sensitivity (probably why opera wasn't his strong point) but he did a good job with La Traviata. Where he really shines is that he bothered to read and apply Verdi's tempo markings which most conductors of this opera fail to do.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> I agree with you about the singers but I was only referring to Solti. There's better conducting on record but this thread is only about Solti's works so Kleiber et al. aren't considered.
> Solti was never know for his sensitivity (probably why opera wasn't his strong point) but he did a good job with La Traviata. Where he really shines is that he bothered to read and apply Verdi's tempo markings which most conductors of this opera fail to do.


Which might make it academically correct, but doesn't actually do much to convince me he has the first idea how to conduct Verdi. His *Traviata* just clunked along in the theatre (I actually saw this production) and that impression was confirmed when it was released on CD and DVD. He never allows the strings to sing. All we get is the nuts and bolts of the score; no lyricism, no song. Those who complain about Verdi's "oom pah pah" accompaniments would find much to back up their arguments here.

If I bring up other conductors for comparison, that is just what critics do. Compare and contrast; and compared to conductors like Serafin, Abbado, Toscanini, Giulini, Muti, Kleiber, even Gardelli, Rescigno and Ghione, his Verdi is sadly lacking, and this *La Traviata* no better than any of the others he conducted.


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## jdcbr (Jul 21, 2014)

I think almost all of Solti's Srauss is top drawer- especially Elektra, Rosenkavalier, Frau and Arabella. I mostly like his Wagner, but then I like the operas to move, not wallow like Levine.
Among his admittedly hit and mis Verdi, I particularly like Ballo 2 with the fabulous Margaret Price and Pavarotti and Otello 1 with Price and Cosutta. The Don Carlo is quite good as well.
The Mozart operas are all fine.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

GioCar said:


> Beside his Wagner (but not everything...), this is my reference recording of his operatic output
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yup, this is most excellent. Listening to it now. I don't know if I can call it the best. Gardiner's sound is quite magical, there's just too much dialogue. I like how Solti uses the singers for this instead.


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