These are some press comments on a concert performance of Strauss' "Salome" in the Konzerthaus Freiburg, April 1997:

The drama explodes
The result was impressive ... Bringing out operas in concert in one way ... has one advantage not to be overtaken: For the first time in Freiburg you could hear nearly the original instrumentation that Strauss had in mind — there would never have been room for it in the orchestra pit. The concert podium as open sound stage — Strauss' cast of genius had free flow.
Above all the lyricist in the conductor Ringborg benefited from it. He is partial to a tender sound: he exhausted the morbid traits of the score, the glimmering musical climate, the pastel shaded soughing beauteousness of Strauss' music, its vast atmospherical qualities, the latent dance-like, the lascivious elegance in it, and the Philharmonic Orchestra jumped at the opportunity, grasping the many possibilities to outdo themselves in the solos. But also in the ever new surges of dramatic explosions, the orgiastic features in Salome's dance characterising the performance with its considerable suspense, with the long term escalation.
(Badische Zeitung, 23.04.1997)

Patrik Ringborg lead this musical event. He seems to be predestinated for this music.
Slightly amused you could notice that he throughout the whole performance shows the dance, performed by the tetrarch's lascivious step daughter. But his gestures are never just for show; they transform the sound into an elastically transparent gestalt: it is clear that the dance really is the leading idea of this music. The eruptive escalation is fascinating; Salome's dance itself remains even in the orgiastic peaks a clever staging of great interest (throughout reflecting the contents of the drama). The orchestra - in short: at its best.
(Schwarzwälder Bote, 26.04.1997)

Back to the page with press comments