Musically, it is an outstanding performance. Renee Fleming's hosting is very brief this time round but well delivered. The sound is very well-balanced and resonant, which allows one to properly enjoy the booming thrill and nuance of the music.

The production looks great in HD, with the video directing expansive but also intimate and the picture crystal clear. The lighting is atmospheric and the costumes are appropriate, again within the story of the opera and the concept of the production.

Elektra's madness, thirst for vengeance and appearance were quite frightening. The stage direction is ceaselessly compelling, especially in the nightmare and recognition scenes, both of which sear in intensity. Not everybody is going to like the set, but the grim oppressiveness fit the story and the late Patrice Chereau's concept more than ideally, though because the Met's stage is so big and so are the sets it's not as claustrophobic as other productions available on DVD of the opera. Let down only by Burkhard Ulrich, who shouts his way through the thankless (Strauss never was kind to his tenors, writing difficult music but with roles with very little to them) role of Aegisth and a forgettable presence onstage, and Elektra's vengeance/death dance which wasn't much of one at all (what there is does not gel with the increasing soaring but demented intensity of the music).

It is an incredibly powerful production of one of Richard Strauss' best operas. Out of a generally strong season in the Met HD series (a season where only 'Otello' and especially 'Manon Lescaut' disappointed), 'Elektra' is up there with the best along with 'Il Trovatore', 'Madama Butterfly' and 'Lulu'.

Elektra met opera