Decca Classics is proud to continue its Hardback Opera Series incorporating true 24-bit audio with two reference recordings of Richard Strauss with casts led by Birgit Nilsson – both performances are conducted by Sir Georg Solti.

“[A] very clear recording of the orchestra … all the detail of the extraordinary scoring, so often obscured in the opera house, can be easily heard throughout … The VPO answer Solti's extreme demands with their most aristocratic playing … Nilsson's account of the title role remains another towering monument to her tireless singing” - Gramophone Magazine, 1985

“Nilsson is splendid throughout; she is hard-edged as usual but, on that account, more convincingly wicked...Of this score Solti is a master. He has rarely sounded so abandoned in a recorded performance...Waechter makes a clear, young-sounding Jokanaan.” - Penguin Guid, 2010 Edition

“Forty-four years after its initial release, Decca’s Salome holds a leading position in the discography due to Solti’s visceral conducting, and a strong cast centred on Nilsson’s commanding necrophiliac princess.” - BBC Music Magazine, January 2012

Includes repertoire notes by Michael Kennedy (English), Jean-Claude Poyet (French) and Hans-Ulrich Fuss (German); session photographs; notes by producer John Culshaw about the recording and the Decca “Sonicstage” approach, and synopsis and libretto all in English, French, German

Deluxe hard-back edition with original covers

Includes comprehensive booklet notes, and libretto and synopsis in English, German and French translations

Presented on 2CDs + High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray disc containing the complete opera in 24-bit audio

Remastered in ultra-high quality 96kHz/24-bit audio from original analogue sources by former Decca Engineer Paschal Byrne

Cast:
- Salome: Birgit Nilsson
- Jokanaan: Eberhard Wächter
- Herod: Gerhard Stolze
- Herodias: Grace Hoffman