Not bad, as long as you keep your eyes closed. But Moser's still the best here for me. (I've only heard the great James King on Böhm's DG set, by which time his beautifully preserved high notes were a bit quiet. Jess Thomas is passionate as always but his climactic high note's a bit painful.)
The only tenor ever recorded who can sing this fiendish aria **beautifully** and not just hit the notes in a desperate shriek. Why wasn't he a bigger star?
He was, in Europe. Unfortunately, houses signed him to sing Wagner -- not that there's anything wrong with Wagner, but for every ten heldentenors who can sing Wagner, one can sing Strauss. I'm sure Seiffert would have sung a beautiful Bacchus, had he ever been asked to sing it. Jess Thomas and James King both could, and did, sing Strauss beautifully, but neither was recorded as der Kaiser.
Böhm recordings from 1974 (Opera d'Oro) and 1977 (DG) with King are easily available. A harder and normally more expensive King recording to find is the 1976 Munich performance under Sawallisch, who incidentally conducted the first uncut recording of Frau for EMI in the late 80's with Kollo. I wish this one had not gone out of print because I have heard it and it's good. Böhm's 1955 recording with Hopf (the first studio recording of Frau) has many cuts, but it's still great.
King and Thomas can both be heard as the Kaiser on live recordings. I have Thomas on a DG recording led by Keilberth, and there is also one with Thomas led by Karajan. King (my favorite Kaiser along with Hopf) is on various live recordings of Frau. His technique and care of his voice enabled him to sing until pretty much just a few years before he died at 80. King was still booked by opera houses for the Kaiser as late as 1990 and still did Otello and Siegmund well at 70!
Have you heard the recent CD of Böhm conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden in Strauss opera scenes from 1938-42? Torsten Ralf sings "Falke, du wiedergefundener" and after hearing that, I'm convinced no man has been a better emperor. I wish they had recorded the entire opera.
Not bad, as long as you keep your eyes closed. But Moser's still the best here for me. (I've only heard the great James King on Böhm's DG set, by which time his beautifully preserved high notes were a bit quiet. Jess Thomas is passionate as always but his climactic high note's a bit painful.)
gratecourt 2 years ago
Beautiful! Jess Thomas' version is also fantastic.
nclysander 3 years ago
Lord, where is my mind going? I meant James King's. I have not heard Thomas'. (Why do I confuse those two men so?)
nclysander 3 years ago
Seiffert rocks!!!!
dserafin777 3 years ago 8
Strauss is the biggest right after Wagner!
Johnny1206 3 years ago 6
Peter Sieffert is a bad ass. Terrific!
adamflowerstenor 4 years ago
yes, good tenor! What production is this? Where and with whom? would love to see and hear the rest of the great first Act! is it possible to post it?
PieterdeRooijHolland 4 years ago
Bayerische Staatsoper with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting. TDK recording of live performance in Japan on 8 & 11 October 1992.
Der Kaiser: Peter Seiffert
Die Kaiserin: Luana DeVol
Die Amme: Marjana Lipovsek
Die Geisterbote: Jan-Hendrik Rootering
Barak: Alan Titus
Sein Weib: Janis Martin.
Hilarion 4 years ago
great performance, i think strauss's best piece, the costumes here are in line with the intention for it to be south pacific, i think
grailmastah 4 years ago
what a great amme und kaiser, lipovsek is probably the best nurse
kazimierzmichalkiwic 4 years ago 4
The only tenor ever recorded who can sing this fiendish aria **beautifully** and not just hit the notes in a desperate shriek. Why wasn't he a bigger star?
Moegiust 4 years ago 6
He was, in Europe. Unfortunately, houses signed him to sing Wagner -- not that there's anything wrong with Wagner, but for every ten heldentenors who can sing Wagner, one can sing Strauss. I'm sure Seiffert would have sung a beautiful Bacchus, had he ever been asked to sing it. Jess Thomas and James King both could, and did, sing Strauss beautifully, but neither was recorded as der Kaiser.
rwprof 4 years ago 3
Böhm recordings from 1974 (Opera d'Oro) and 1977 (DG) with King are easily available. A harder and normally more expensive King recording to find is the 1976 Munich performance under Sawallisch, who incidentally conducted the first uncut recording of Frau for EMI in the late 80's with Kollo. I wish this one had not gone out of print because I have heard it and it's good. Böhm's 1955 recording with Hopf (the first studio recording of Frau) has many cuts, but it's still great.
Leoboy729 4 years ago
King and Thomas can both be heard as the Kaiser on live recordings. I have Thomas on a DG recording led by Keilberth, and there is also one with Thomas led by Karajan. King (my favorite Kaiser along with Hopf) is on various live recordings of Frau. His technique and care of his voice enabled him to sing until pretty much just a few years before he died at 80. King was still booked by opera houses for the Kaiser as late as 1990 and still did Otello and Siegmund well at 70!
Leoboy729 4 years ago
@rwprof
and he is still a star...
aeru9 1 year ago 2
@rwprof
and he still is...
aeru9 1 year ago
I think he is the biggest...
dalatz 4 years ago 3
Have you heard the recent CD of Böhm conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden in Strauss opera scenes from 1938-42? Torsten Ralf sings "Falke, du wiedergefundener" and after hearing that, I'm convinced no man has been a better emperor. I wish they had recorded the entire opera.
ersatzman 4 years ago