Strauss Elektra

Iréne Theorin (soprano); Jennifer Holloway (soprano); Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (mezzo-soprano); Nikolai Schukoff (tenor); Iain Paterson (bass-baritone).

Bergen Philharmonic Chorus Håkon Matti Skrede chorus master
Edvard Grieg Kor, Håkon Matti Skrede chorus master
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Alexander Kagan leader
Conductor: Edward Gardner

Chandos CHSA 5375(2)
chandos.net

Having guided the Bergen Philharmonic to exceptional effect in Strauss's psychologically acute Salome, Edward Gardner now turns his attention to Elektra — and the results are no less compelling.

First performed in Dresden in 1909, Elektra marked Strauss's first collaboration with the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the most consequential partnership in his operatic career. It remains the most uncompromisingly modernist of all his stage works. Hofmannsthal's text, which reworks Sophocles with considerable freedom, concentrates on the inner world of Elektra as she moves through a series of charged encounters with each member of her shattered family.

Strauss's score matches that psychological intensity at every turn, pushing harmonic language to its limits — famously crystallised in the so-called Elektra Chord, a simultaneous sounding of E major and C sharp major. Even by Strauss's extravagant standards, the orchestration is prodigal: eight horns, six trumpets, double timpani and two harps combine to produce a sonic canvas of almost overwhelming richness.

This live recording, made in Bergen in December 2023 and released on Chandos, does full justice to that score. The engineering is superb, capturing both the tsunami of orchestral colour and the more intimate moments with equal clarity—the strings are luminous, and the brass and woodwind are vivid in their narrative momentum.

At the centre of it all is the Swedish dramatic soprano Iréne Theorin, one of the outstanding Elektras of our time, and this performance confirms that reputation in every phrase. Her command of the role is total: the high notes soar with thrilling power, yet vulnerability is never far beneath the surface, communicated with a nuance that makes Elektra's anguish feel genuinely human rather than merely monumental. She draws a sharp mockery of her sister Chrysothemis, and the confrontation with Klytämnestra is riveting. Most devastating of all is the moment in 'Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben können!' when Elektra realises she has failed to pass the axe to Orest, the shock registers in Théorin's voice with an immediacy that is almost physical.

The supporting cast sustains the drama throughout. Jennifer Holloway brings warmth and genuine pathos to Chrysothemis, her upper register especially beautiful. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner is a riveting Klytämnestra, her mezzo-soprano ideally suited to the writhing accompaniment of 'Ich habe keine guten Nächte', conveying the character's torment with compelling focus. Nikolai Schukoff (Ägisth) and Iain Paterson (Orest) both inhabit their roles with conviction.

Throughout, Gardner draws on the playing of extraordinary commitment from the Bergen Philharmonic, balancing the score's fearsome dissonances with its moments of dark, sensuous beauty.

This is Elektra at full voltage.