Classical Music Awards: Recording of the Year - Die Frau ohne Schatten: Artists strike triumphant note on big awards night

CONDUCTED by Sir Georg Solti, the recording has a strong cast - Domingo, Varady, Runkel, van Dam, Behrens, Jo - and is the outcome of some three years' work. But its reception vindicated the effort, the cost - it is the first opera recording to run into seven figures - and Strauss and Hofmannsthal's work itself, which has often seemed problematic over the years, yet emerged here as one of the most powerful achievements of a famous creative collaboration. Vocal performances, the playing of the Vienna Philharmonic, and the recorded sound, all earned accolades from reviewers and the awards jury.

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