Salome
Soprano Birgit Nilsson would not look right in the role of the kittenish, erotically obsessed teenage princess who does her Dance of the Seven Veils for King Herod and demands the head of John the Baptist in payment. For that, you want to see Catherine Malfitano in the video edition issued by Telarc. But no other soprano on record matches Nilsson's vocal power and control inSalome's cruelly demanding music. The role calls for strong characterization as well as glittering high notes, and in this, too, Nilsson delivers. Sir George Solti's energetic conducting, the Vienna Philharmonic's virtuoso playing, a skilled supporting cast, London's vivid recording and, of course, Strauss's feverish music and the Oscar Wilde libretto make this a larger-than-life experience.--Joe McLellan