0213-1 DER ROSENKAVALIER (Strauss) Act 3

Yes, we all do it: go on a wild goose chase to see what all the excitement was about with Lehmann and Rise Stevens and the rest. Well, even though this is a live performance (frankly, I prefer them for style and spontaneity) and old (1945) and 'rusty', there is more Strauss and Rosenkavalier in evidence here than in a whole handful of modern recordings. You're not here to hear Der Rosenkavalier for the first time - you know what the thrilling rip of the horns in the Prelude feels like, you know what the gossamer halo crowning the young lovers sounds like at the end, no, you're here to see how great an opera Rosenkavalier can be. And great it can be when you have a recording like this to show you! It's just Act 3, yes, but if you had to have just one act, Act 3 it would be. Everything great about this opera Lehmann and Stevens give you - when Stevens cats around with the Baron towards the beginning of the act, there are gutbusting laughs from the audience - to that precious moment all Rosenkavalier-lovers wait for when the Marschallin returns on the arm of Sophie's father, agreeing with him about the dreamy couple, 'Ja, ja.' Even through all the static, you'll shed a tear. Again, this is what I got into opera for: all the excitement opera can be is here in this one little CD - sheer musical and dramatic genius, once-in-a-lifetime singers, the ephemeral moment when audience and opera house together create that magic which only opera can be.