The "Elektra" documentary is the last testimony to a life of artistic
fulfillment, an homage to the conductor Karl Böhm. The streets and squares
of Vienna unfold before our eyes as the automobile bringing Karl Böhm to
the recording studio drives through the city with which Karl Böhm had the
most intimate musical relationship. And when he steps up to the conductor's
desk in the Sophiensaal, we are about to witness his last great
performance. We see him conversing with the singers and the orchestra,
rehearsing, criticizing, encouraging, and reminiscing: "Strauss once told
me¿" At the end of the production, after Elektra's dance, he sits back
silently in his chair - exhausted but happy. On 14 August 1981, shortly
after the shooting of the film, Karl Böhm died, aged almost 86. His death
marked the end of an era.
This documentary provides fascinating insights into the work of the
director Götz Friedrich. And it also illustrates the dramatic power of
musical tragedy, for example in the masterful depiction of Clytemnestra by
Astrid Varnay, herself once a fabulous Elektra, and in the outstanding
interpretations of top singers such as Leonie Rysanek, Catarina Ligendza,
Hans Beirer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Josef Greindl, Kurt Böhme and
others.
