Composed at the height of Richard Strauss’s early modernist radicalism, Elektra remains one of the most uncompromising works in the operatic repertoire. Premiered in 1909, it marked the composer’s first collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, inaugurating a partnership that would endure until the poet’s untimely death in 1929. In this score Strauss drives his orchestra to unprecedented intensity, harnessing its sheer weight and colour to sustain a single, searing dramatic arc from first note to last, while simultaneously creating a sound world that probes the inner states of the protagonists with extraordinary psychological acuity. Any recording of Elektra must therefore confront not only formidable technical demands for orchestra, singers and recording team, but also the challenge of sustaining an unwavering degree of musical concentration in the listener.

Over the years Elektra has been fortunate on disc, with outstanding recordings conducted by such committed Straussians as Georg Solti, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Giuseppe Sinopoli. On SACD, conductors including Valery Gergiev, Marc Albrecht and Semyon Bychkov have also taken up the challenge, with varying degrees of success.

This new Chandos recording stems from live performances given in the Grieghallen, Bergen, on 13 and 15 December 2023. These performances were originally to have been conducted by Kirill Petrenko, who, owing to health issues, was obliged to withdraw before rehearsals began. Fortunately, the orchestra’s Chief Conductor, Edward Gardner, stepped in and the results are nothing short of spectacular.

From the power and precision of the Agamemnon motif, delivered by the vast orchestra in the opera’s opening bars, it quickly became apparent that one of the principal reasons to acquire this recording is Gardner’s electrifying command of the score. His tempi are beautifully judged throughout, and his considerable operatic experience ensures an ideal balance between sensitivity to the singers and incisive dramatic thrust in the purely orchestral passages – not least the ominous episode preceding Klytämnestra’s entrance. Across the opera’s span (here 104 minutes), every section of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra acquits itself with admirable discipline, combining precision, tonal weight and flexibility.

The cast assembled for these performances is as fine as one could reasonably expect to encounter in leading opera houses today. The title role is taken by the Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, long acknowledged as one of the foremost interpreters of this punishing part. Her performance is compelling and deeply considered. While her voice inevitably shows some wear since she first recorded Elektra some thirteen years prior to these concerts this scarcely detracts from a portrayal of formidable dramatic authority and emotional intensity.
Chrysothemis is impressively sung by Jennifer Holloway, already celebrated for her outstanding Salome. Vocally she proves more than a match for her sister in their charged exchanges, her bright, gleaming soprano riding the orchestra with assurance. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner offers a relatively youthful-sounding Klytämnestra, avoiding caricature and bringing vocal security and psychological insight to the role. Iain Paterson’s Orest makes a strong overall impression in the Recognition Scene. Although a touch unsteady at the outset, he quickly settles, delivering a firmly projected and nobly shaped account, his authority and steadiness of line growing as the scene unfolds. Nicolai Schukoff makes a strong impression as Aegisthus, vividly characterised. All the smaller roles are uniformly well sung and carefully delineated.

A couple of minor reservations remain. After such a searing traversal of the score, one needs time to recover one’s emotional composure; it is therefore slightly regrettable that the – admittedly well-deserved – applause at the work’s conclusion has been retained, particularly as it was excised in the recent Chandos recording of Salome.
In addition, the work is performed with cuts, as is still often the case in most opera houses and on disc. One might reasonably question whether such omissions remain necessary in modern concert performances, especially when versions by Solti, Sawallisch, Gergiev and Bychkov restore the score complete.

The recording (in 24-bit/96kHz 5.0 channel surround sound) was produced and engineered by Elaine Maltezos of the Norwegian company Nobel Lyd, which provides in-house production for the orchestra. The engineering captures both the visceral impact and the inner detail of Strauss’s orchestration with impressive clarity and dynamic range. The two SACDs are accompanied by a generous 110-page booklet containing the full German – English libretto, artist biographies, photographs from the performances, and an informative essay on the work by Gavin Plumley.
This Chandos Elektra emerges as a major addition to the work’s discography: a thrillingly conducted, superbly played and powerfully sung account that combines live performance electricity with technical polish. Despite my minor reservations regarding applause and cuts, the overall achievement places this recording alongside the finest modern versions of Strauss’s incendiary masterpiece and is strongly recommended.

Copyright © 2026 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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