Arabella

Richard Strauss's 1933 opera—his last to feature a libretto by his frequent collaborator, the poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal—is essentially an elegant comedy of manners with dark undercurrents, presented here in a brilliant 2012 staging at the Wiener Staatsoper. Count Waldner's gambling has left him deeply in debt, but if his beautiful daughter Arabella marries well, his money problems could be solved. Unfortunately, she has rejected all suitors, including the soldier Matteo, while awaiting Mr. Right. Her younger sister, Zdenka, whom her parents have kept disguised as a boy, loves Matteo and writes to him in Arabella's name. The solution to the family's difficulties arrives in the person of Mandryka, who's enraptured with Arabella just from looking at her photo, feelings that are returned when she immediately perceives him as her soul mate. But things are thrown into confusion when Mandryka mistakes Zdenka's advances towards Matteo as coming from Arabella. Everything works out, of course, after a great many apologies are exchanged. Franz Welser-Möst draws richly romantic playing from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, bringing out the full opulence of Strauss's score; and the singing by Emily Magee (Arabella), Genia Kühmeier (Zdenka), Tomasz Konieczny (Mandryka), Michael Schade (Matteo), and Wolfgang Bankl (Waldner) is uniformly excellent. Although the staging updates the opera from the mid-19th century to the 1930s, the elegant sets and stylish costumes fit the work perfectly. Presented in DTS 5.1 (DTS-HD 5.1 on the Blu-ray version) and LPCM stereo, extras include a cast gallery. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)