Die Liebe der Danae

Richard Strauss's penultimate opera, based on Greek myth, went unperformed during his lifetime and has rarely been mounted since, making this 2011 staging from the Deutsche Opera Berlin most welcome. After a financially-strapped King Pollux offers the hand of his daughter, Princess Danae, to golden-touch famed Midas in hopes of replenishing his treasury, Jupiter intervenes, harboring design's on the young woman himself. But Danae's preference for Midas leads Jupiter to impoverish the couple and then lament that he is unable to experience human love. Parts of the work are lighthearted, especially when Jupiter is ridiculed by Mercury and accosted by women he'd previously seduced; but most of it is quite serious, marked by the sort of lushly romantic music for which Strauss was famous. In this version, the vocals by Mark Delavan (Jupiter), Manuela Uhl (Danae), and Matthias Klink (Midas) are excellent, and the supporting singing and choral work are fine as well. But even though conductor Andrew Litton strives for the ardency demanded by the score and the orchestra responds enthusiastically, the result remains somewhat pallid. And visually the staging is problematic: Dorothea Katzer's vaguely modern costumes are effective, but the minimalist sets are unimpressive, and an inverted piano dangling from the rafters is a pointless distraction. Still, this presentation makes a good case overall for this unjustly neglected work. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.0 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.0 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a plot synopsis. Recommended. (F. Swietek)