{Live} Cheryl Studer sings the SALOME Schlußszene - Salzburg - 1991

“Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen lassen, Jochanaan”

In gratitude to Allons à l'Opéra for their courtesy and permission.

3 August 1991
Salzburg
Felsenreitschule
Staatskapelle Dresden
Giuseppe Sinopoli

Studer sang the role again in concert performances of the work with Riccardo Chailly in February of 1997, in Zürich.

What follows comes from a review of a recent Richard Strauss release featuring Jessye Norman and Klaus Tennstedt, published April 2022:

http://www.musicweb-international.com...

“In 1991 she [Studer] gave a concert performance of this very piece in Dresden with Sinopoli that was just outrageous – Sinopoli pushed Studer with such power and force she ended up giving a vision of Salome that was more chilling and more decadent and terrifying than any I have heard; by the end of it her voice was all but shattered. Perhaps this is exactly the kind of cruelty that Strauss expected of his Salome – but which no soprano dares to give. It is certainly not the one that Jessye Norman dares to give here. As impressive as the voice is, her vocal cords do not sound that stretched – the performance could be considered just a little safe.”

“Norman doesn’t fall into the Studer category in any sense, and nor give us what Strauss really intended. But what we do get is a performance of such power and virtuosity it delivers a real punch. In a sense this is not uncomplicated music; it is a straightforward narrative and Norman doesn’t make life difficult for herself. You’ll be swept away by it, but it isn’t blood-curdling, it isn’t decadent and nor is it chilling. One could imagine Studer entirely embracing the head of John the Baptist to kiss his lips; I think Norman probably recoiled at the prospect of doing so. Where Studer might almost spit her words out towards the latter half of this long monologue, Norman is more modest. Only one of these two great sopranos drips in the blood of her venom and poison.”