What is the best Salome Blu-ray? We now (January 2020) have 5 titles to consider, and the best is the new Salome from the Dutch National Opera with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra led by Daniele Gatti. It’s a fine production with an amazingly young-looking Malin Byström playing Salome, for which she got the 2018 Female Singer of the Year from the International Opera Awards. The music and SQ are outstanding, and the video was made by François Roussillon, the best we have for opera video.
Malin and Daniele push down to second place the dramatically intense Salome from the Royal Opera House with Nadja Michael as Salome directed by David McVicar. This has been our top pick since 2010. But now the PQ is starting to show its age, and we recently reduced the grade to A-.
Neither of our top picks has a strip-tease. If that’s what you want, try the grade B title from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in which Erika Sunnegårdh (Salome) nails the dance pretty well. Finally, if you like your operas surreal, you might consider the Romeo Castellucci version that was controversial at the Salzburg Festival.