review details
 •  July & August 2007
Strauss · Daphne
Santa Fe Opera
  • One can always feel in good hands with conductor Kenneth Montgomery, here leading this score with verve and dynamic flow in true heroic style. Wagnerian it may be, but there are plenty of moment of Straussian classicisme, most notably the prelude, scored for woodwinds alone. Wind play throughout was exemplary, especially the flute illustrating Leukippos and the oboe, Daphne.

    D.S. Crafts / ABQNews, 16/07/07

  • Conductor and acting SFO music director Kenneth Montgomery drew shimmering sound from the orchestra and helped the players bring out the interweaving woodwind lines clearly, especially Margaret Butler's warm-grained oboe solos.

    Craig Smith / The New Mexican, 15/07/07

  • ... veteran Santa Fe conductor Kenneth Montgomery led the orchestra and capable chorus with care and trusting authority

    Michael Lodico / Ionarts, 06/08/07

  • Kenneth Montgomery, Santa Fe's acting music director, upheld the august Straussian credentials established long ago by its founder, John Crosby.

    George Loomis / FT.com & Financial Times, 22 & 23/08/07

  • ... this was John Crosby's favorite Strauss opera, it is an important work for Santa Fe, and Kenneth Montgomery's impassioned conducting suggested it still matters to the company ... Daphne is no placid idyll, as reputation has it. On the contrary, with Montgomery conducting, this must be, decibel for decibel, one of the noisiest operas ever written; even Wagner is mute by comparison.

    Simon Williams / Opera News, November 2007

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